‘I Played Alongside Harry Kane For England – Now I’m 32 and Unemployed’
‘I Played Alongside Harry Kane For England – Now I’m 32 and Unemployed’
Robin Mumford is a journalist for GiveMeSport, covering mainly Champions League and Premier League football.
He joined in April 2024, having previously worked at VAVEL as Deputy Editor-in-Chief, where he produced a variety of content, including pieces from press conferences and games. He also won an award for his role as lead editor for the Women’s Football section of the online newspaper.
Covering football all across Europe, he has worked at stadiums such as Anfield, Old Trafford, and Dortmund’s Signal Iduna Park, as well as having reported at both the 2023 men’s and women’s Champions League finals in Eindhoven and Istanbul.
He is infatuated with every aspect of football, but likes other sports as well, being an avid coffee-desperate Buffalo Bills supporter from across the pond and a darts’ newbie.
Indeed, nobody needs reminding of Kane’s success on the international stage. No one has captained the Three Lions to more major international tournament semi-finals than him, and his goalscoring tally is way beyond that of his predecessors, having managed an incredible 85 goals in 120 caps.
Harry Kane vs Haaland, Mbappé and football’s biggest strikers
Over the course of that time, though, he’s never found a reliable strike partner. He’s come closest to finally discovering one at this year’s World Cup, with Jude Bellingham netting six times to prove himself as one of the best midfielders in the world. But as for out-and-out number 9s, Kane hasn’t been blessed with right-hand men.
Thierry Henry, Pele and Ronaldo all feature on this list of the greatest number nines of all-time.
Harry Kane’s Former England Strike Partner Now 32 and Unemployed
Having started alongside Kane in an England Under-19s friendly against Switzerland in 2012, Will Keane is spending the next few weeks in a PFA pre-season camp laid on to help unemployed players find new clubs.
His downfall started just days after playing up top with Kane, as he suffered a serious knee injury which sidelined him for 16 months. He told BBC Sport recently:
“I made my senior debut [for United]. We won the Youth Cup. I was doing well for England. Everything was taking off. That first injury was at a crucial time. I had my foot in the door.
“The feeling was I would probably have been around the first team. If the injury had happened a couple of years later, I might have been an established squad player.”
Keane tore his groin, allowing Marcus Rashford to get a run in the senior side. The Carrington Academy graduate scored four goals in his first two Red Devils’ games, which he admits was like a dagger to the heart. He recalled: “I went to America for an operation, landed in Philadelphia, turned my phone on and saw he scored two more. It was hard to take, but I had to move on.”
The 32-year-old did move on, bouncing around the second and third tiers before finding a safe haven at Wigan Athletic, where he played the best football of his career between 2020 and 2023.
The Stockport-born striker, whose twin brother is Everton defender Michael Keane, also spent part of last season on loan at League One Reading before his Preston contract expired. He is now having “a few chats” with interested clubs and hopes things will “open up” once the season starts.
Keane Always Knew His Compatriot Was Special
The past few weeks have given Keane the perfect opportunity to watch his former partner in crime at the World Cup and reflect on what has made him so successful. He said, as per The Sun: “I remember when we were young, people said he wasn’t mobile, but technically, the time he put into his finishing and his obsessiveness to be the best in terms of shooting, you see it don’t you?
“He’s so sure of himself, because he’s put the work in. He knows he’s a complete striker. He’s obviously got that belief in himself. If he didn’t have certainty in his mind, he wouldn’t be as prolific.”
