There are calls for Harry Kane to be stripped of the England captaincy with perfect replacement in current squad

England legend Tony Adams believes Harry Kane should be stripped of the captaincy following the Three Lions' elimination from the World Cup - with a replacement already in the squad.

Gareth Southgate's side were beaten 2-1 by France on Saturday evening to end the Three Lions' dream of a first international honour since 1066.

It was a spirited performance against the reigning world champions, who were on the ropes several times after Kane cancelled out Aurelien Tchouameni's opener.

Olivier Giroud put France ahead once again in the second half through a header, but England had one more chance from the spot after Theo Hernandez fouled Mason Mount.

Kane stepped up to take a second penalty, blazing his effort over the crossbar and into the Al Bayt Stadium stands.

Cruelly, it denied the Tottenham Hotspur forward the chance to become England's all-time top goalscorer after equalling Wayne Rooney's record of 53 earlier in the game.

Adams believes another tournament failure is the time to ring the changes around St. George's Park. He told The Sun that Southgate should consider adding an experienced coach to his backroom staff while making a tough call with Kane.

"They need an experienced, serial winner around the place. Gareth doesn’t lack courage, he has tremendous courage. But he’s a good loser. It’s hard to say that but it’s the truth," the former Arsenal captain declared.

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"They need another voice, an experienced head who’s won stuff at the highest level for their clubs who can have a word in some ears about what you need to do to get over that line which we don’t seem able to cross."

His choice for the next skipper is Declan Rice, who is captain of West Ham United at club level.

Rice took the armband from Mark Noble in the summer and will be an England regular for at least another decade.

The 23-year-old has been linked with moves to Chelsea and Manchester United in recent transfer windows and he has desires to play Champions League football.

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Adams continued: "We’ve got good players but I stand by changing the captain. Harry Kane is the number nine and did not shirk responsibility for missing that penalty. But we’ve got to think about what we do now with the captaincy.

"That’s more of an issue than the coach and, as I said before, I believe Declan Rice should have the job.

"Is Kane going to be the shining star at the next two tournaments? When are we going to get to the point where we take him off and change it? It’s hard to do when he’s captain."