England captain Harry Kane says his criticism of the raft of withdrawals for this month's international camp was aimed at clubs and not his team-mates.

He said: "All the players try and give their best whenever they come with England, I know it's a really tough stage of the season.

"Whoever is in the squad is the most important thing. Whatever we have here is all we can work with.

"Going forward there are always going to be injuries, it is just whoever is with the squad is ready to make a difference."

On the traction his comments got, Kane added: "I didn't expect it to get as much coverage as it did. The November camp has always been difficult - you're in the heart of a lot of games.

"So it's just my opinion that it is really important after a major championship, where September, October, November camps are really important in a year ahead to the World Cup.

"These are the camps as well where you build that culture and that togetherness that lead you into a World Cup. It was just a reminder that it's really, really special to play for England."