Jose Mourinho has heaped praise on England striker Harry Kane ahead of the Euro 2024 finals, claiming the former Tottenham star is a "complete player".
Mourinho, who managed the England captain at Spurs between 2019 and 2021, says the only thing missing from Kane’s game is trophies – something the Portuguese still insists he would have delivered at Spurs had he not been sacked.
He lost his job less than a week before Spurs played Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley in April 2021 and has not forgotten it.
Kane, who won the Golden Boot at the 2018 World Cup, had a prolific season for Bayern Munich and will be aiming to fire Gareth Southgate’s men to glory in Germany.
READ: Harry Kane says England story ‘not over yet’ as Three Lions eyes long-awaited trophy
“Kane has scored goals for Tottenham, England, and I had no doubts that he would score goals for Bayern,” Mourinho said.
“Harry is a fantastic, complete player who scores goals from all over the pitch but isn’t selfish – he assists, drops deep, builds play, presses, defends.
“The only thing he is missing is to win a trophy. He was my player at Tottenham and I was going to win one with him, but I was sacked six days before the final.”
England are favourites to win a first major trophy since the 1966 World Cup and if Kane can help them to success, people who have filled in the Topps’ UEFA Euro 2024 sticker collection will have a valuable piece of memorabilia.
But Mourinho, who is an ambassador for Topps, believes Portugal are also a contender and have their best-ever squad.
“I don’t want to be disrespectful about previous generations that we had, but in terms of squad depth and quality, we are probably now the best we have ever been and Portugal can go on to win it,” the new Fenerbahce manager said.
“It’s about having confidence, self-belief that they can beat anyone. I don’t want to say Portugal are the best team, but Spain, France, England, and Germany are not better.
“The best problem for a coach is having to choose who to play because there are two great right-backs, two great left-backs, two great positional midfielders – and I say two only because there is a 23-man squad but there are more.
“There will be good players in Portugal who will be outside of the squad.
“If there is a surprise, I will be surprised! France and Germany always do well, Portugal and England are better than ever.
“These four teams. I’m not certain about Spain but the football they play and the players they have are of the highest quality. Italy or Belgium would be a surprise.”
