Gareth Southgate has been told he must be brave and do the almost-unthinkable and drop Harry Kane from the England side ahead of their Euro 2024 quarter-final tie with Switzerland, with the player told he a major reason for their poor form and that his off-colour performances could lead to his Bayern Munich sale this summer.

The Three Lions are through to the last eight at this summer’s European Championships, where they take on the Swiss for a place in the semi-finals on Saturday. But despite England winning through to a fourth successive quarter-finals at a major tournament and having a great chance of reaching back-to-back finals in the Euros, criticism of Southgate and his side has never been more acute.

Indeed, Southgate has been utterly slaughtered by fans and pundits alike for his failure to not just switch up a stagnant Three Lions side, but also his slow reaction time when it comes to turning to his substitutes bench. And but for a sensational last-gasp wonder strike by the otherwise out-of-sorts Jude Bellingham on Sunday, their campaign would have come crashing to an immediate halt at the last-16 stage by Slovakia.

Now with the match against the Swiss looming on the horizon, demand for Southgate to mix up his side is stronger than ever. To that end, Alan Shearer has demanded three changes while also naming the man who he expects to come in for the suspended Marc Guehi.

As a result, claims that Southgate should face the sack are still ringing out loud despite his impressive record as England boss, with the manner of their performances so far this tournament of particular cause for concern.

Drop Harry Kane! Southgate told to make incredible England call

However, while Shearer wants the likes of Anthony Gordon and Cole Palmer added to the starting XI, former Liverpool midfielder Didi Hamann has urged Southgate be even braver by axing captain Kane from the side, branding him a ‘tap-in merchant’ and suggesting to Gambling Zone why his performances do little to aid the Three Lions cause.

“I said a week ago that if I was working for Bayern and watching Kane’s performances for England, I would be having cold sweats,” the 59-times capped former Germany midfielder stated.

“You could see that England looked a lot more dangerous when [Ollie] Watkins came on – he had a couple of chances within five minutes because he makes runs.

“Kane doesn’t make runs. I’m sure he would love to be able to make the same runs as Watkins, but he can’t.

Kane has two goals so far at Euro 2024, but Hamann is adamant the performances of their all-time leading goalscorer are a major reason why the team are performing so badly at Euro 2024.

“Obviously, Kane is a player who likes to drop in, but in the first game against Serbia, he had two touches in the first half. He’s very static. If your centre forward doesn’t have that pace, then you make things more difficult for your team because your game becomes too predictable.

“You need your focal point to do more, you need them to make runs because it opens up spaces for other players to exploit. England’s game is so static because Kane is so static.”

Bayern Munich told they may want to sell Kane after Euro 2024 performances

Hamann reckons England’s progress through to the quarter-finals has been achieved in spite of Kane and not because of him, labelling the player nothing more than a tap-in merchant.

“If you’re looking for a player that can score a tap-in or a close-range header, Kane does a job, but if that is all you offer as England’s main striker and captain, then I think some of the strikers from the past 20 or 30-odd years would fancy lacing up their boots and having a go. It’s not enough!

“The fact that England are still in the tournament has nothing to do with Harry Kane. Bellingham got his goal, [Ivan] Toney flicked things on for Kane. He needs to do something at this tournament – he hasn’t done anything in four games other than put away a couple of sitters.”

Hamann also feels Bayern Munich chiefs will not have failed to notice Kane’s alarming form at the Euros and believes such displays will be giving their decision-makers ‘cold sweats’.

And unless there is a drastic improvement, Hamann claims Bayern may soon be regretting their decision to hand Kane such a lucrative and lengthy deal, hinting they may even look to move him on as a result.

“He’s the biggest earner in Munich. He’s got three years left on his contract. If I was watching him as a Bayern official, I would be very, very concerned about his ability to be the main man at this level,” Hamann concluded.

Kane scored 44 goals and added 12 assists from 45 appearances in his debut season with Bayern, contributing towards a goal every 70.2 minutes he was on the field.