England manager Roy Hodgson has hinted that Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane may not be given a spot in the senior squad later this month.
Despite claiming that the 21-year-old is ready to make his full international debut, Hodgson admits it would be difficult to leave out a forward who has been involved with England recently.
Wayne Rooney, Danny Welbeck, Saido Berahino and Rickie Lambert were the strikers named in the last squad, while Liverpool's Daniel Sturridge is available for selection once again following a long injury battle.
"Kane is ready; if he wasn't ready, he wouldn't be playing for Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League and scoring lots of goals," Hodgson is quoted as saying by Sky Sports News.
"The factors that always are taken mostly into consideration is has the player got the quality, and the talent we are looking for and is there a space for him because we have other players too. Often if someone like Kane is going to come into the squad, then someone is going to drop out and up until now most of the players that we've had, at least in the forward area of our squad, have done quite well for us during the autumn, so you can't include everybody unfortunately.
"We can just about deal with a squad of 23, 24 players, so it's not always a question of are they good enough to be in there. It's more if there is space at this moment in time. That's the most important consideration."
Kane is the top English goalscorer in the Premier League this season with 14 goals in 23 appearances, and he has found the net 24 times in all competitions for Spurs in the campaign.
Callum Mulvihill
