England and Tottenham star Harry Kane believes he coped well with the transfer speculation linking him to Premier League champions Manchester City.
Kane was heavily tipped to join City, but a move did not materialise during the previous transfer window and the Tottenham forward has struggled for form this season.
The 28-year-old had initially not returned for pre-season training and while he has committed to Spurs for the time being, Kane has looked a shadow of his usual self in London, where Antonio Conte has since replaced Nuno Espirito Santo in the dugout.
Kane has scored only one goal in the Premier League – last month s 3-2 win over Newcastle United, while he has netted seven across all competitions this term, including five in the Europa Conference League.
On the eve of England s World Cup qualifier against Albania on Friday, Kane was asked about his Euro 2020 hangover.
Obviously, there s a lot of talk and a lot of speculation over the summer, the first real time that probably happened to me in my career, Kane told reporters after featuring in England s run to the Euro 2020 final, which they lost to Italy.
But that s part and parcel of learning, that s part and parcel of being a big player, having to deal with those situations. And I think I dealt with it well. And now it s just about focusing.
There is still a long way to go at club level. And now, for me, it s just about finishing these two games strongly with England and finish off what s been a great calendar year.
Kane – whose Spurs are ninth in the table and six points adrift of the top four during the international break – added: Whether I m doing really well or the goals aren t quite coming, it s just to work hard, train hard, work hard for the team. And that s what I ve done my whole career.
Obviously, there s not been many spells, for example, for club not scoring as many as I ve scored so far this year. But in terms of an England calendar year, it s been a great year for me personally, and I hope to continue that tomorrow night.
England face Albania in Group I, knowing a win would see them move within a point of qualifying for Qatar 2022, assuming second-placed Poland do not fail to win in Andorra.
Gareth Southgate s England are unbeaten in their last 18 matches in all competitions – their best undefeated run since going 19 in a row without defeat between November 1965 and November 1966.
This will be Southgate s 67th match in charge of England – the joint-most of any England manager since Bobby Robson left in 1990, equalling Sven-Goran Eriksson s tally between 2001 and 2006.
Southgate has already won more games (42) than Eriksson (40), with only Sam Allardyce (100 per cent) and Fabio Capello (67 per cent) having a better win ratio for England than Southgate (64 per cent).
Kane added: It s always about getting back to the basics, getting back to the training pitch, working hard there and doing my best. Obviously, we play a lot of games throughout the year. There s not much time to recover and reflect on things.
So any time you can just get on that training pitch, work on a few things, get back to what you know best is important, and that s definitely what I try to do.
