Kane ´delighted´ as Palmer opens England account on first Three Lions start

Harry Kane was delighted for Cole Palmer after the Chelsea forward marked his full England debut with a first goal for the Three Lions.

Palmer, who was making his first international start at senior level, opened the scoring from the penalty spot as Gareth Southgate’s side overcame Bosnia-Herzegovina 3-0 at St James’ Park.

Kane was also on target later on, coming off the bench to round off a commanding win with the third goal in England’s penultimate warm-up game ahead of Euro 2024.

Palmer, who made his senior debut against Malta in November, continues to thrive following a superb 2023-24 with Chelsea, with his 33 goal involvements (22 goals, 11 assists) in the Premier League earning him the Young Player of the Season award.

Saluting the former Manchester City forward, Kane said: “He’s had an unbelievable season. It’s never easy moving clubs as well and what he [Palmer] has done for Chelsea is a credit to him and the team he was in.

“We’re very happy to have him. I am delighted he got his goal because we are going to need all our players chipping in with important goals in the tournament in a couple of weeks. The more people feeling good, the better.”

pic.twitter.com/6VuSLzrDmf

— England (@England) June 3, 2024

Kane also addressed his own fitness, with the Bayern Munich striker having missed the final few weeks of the Bundesliga season with a slight niggle.

Although, the England skipper believes the unscheduled break may benefit him as he looks to lead the Three Lions to European Championship in Germany.

“I’m feeling good, and a lot of the end of the season was precaution,” he added. “There’s a big summer coming up, so we didn’t want to take any risks with it.

“In the end, it was a good chance to get a good break after a tough season, and we have been in camp now for nearly a week.

“I’ve had a good week training, some minutes here, and I’m sure I will get some minutes on Friday [against Iceland] and I will be ready to go for the group stage.

“It’s almost worked in my favour missing the back end of the season. It gave me a chance to get maybe more rest than I was going to get.”

Great to be back out there and on the scoresheet. A good win and preparation for the start of the Eurospic.twitter.com/DBthfV0n5b

— Harry Kane (@HKane) June 3, 2024