Tottenham defender Jan Vertonghen believes Harry Kane would benefit from asking to be left out of England's European under-21 Championship squad this summer.
Kane's brace in Spurs' 2-1 win at Queens Park Rangers last weekend took his goal tally to 26 in all competitions for the season, a figure which looks likely to earn the 21-year-old an England call-up later this month.
Despite talk of a senior call-up for matches against Lithuania and Italy, the striker could also feature for England's under-21 side at this summer's tournament in the Czech Republic as well, effectively extending his season until the end of June.
White Hart lane coach Mauricio Pochettino will seek talks with the Football Association and would prefer the striker to be given a rest, while Kane's teammate Vertonghen has echoed those sentiments.
"Of course England want him," Vertonghen said in The Times. "He is a brilliant striker and he can be the main man, but I think he needs his rest for next season. It's his call and I know a player always wants to play but sometimes you have to be careful.
"It's a difficult one because last season I played with injuries, but sometimes you just can't. You have to think about what's going to come. It's difficult for me to judge."
Former England under-21 coach Stuart Pearce has called on England to select Kane for the tournament, saying: "I think it's very refreshing for English football that we have a young man who seems very level-headed and wants to come and play for his country."
Vertonghen played for the Belgium under-21 side in the 2007 tournament and enjoyed the experience, but said that Kane's situation is different to the one he faced.
"It's his decision and it's a totally different situation from when I played in 2007," he said. "Did that benefit my development as a player? It's hard to tell. I enjoyed playing for my country because I never played international football at youth level.
"So that was my first tournament as a Belgium player and I enjoyed it. It was in Holland and I played in Holland for Ajax at the time, so for me it was brilliant."
Spurs' win at QPR sees them sitting sixth in the table, but just four points off a Champions League qualification spot with 10 games to go. The north London club travel to fellow top-four rivals Manchester United next Sunday, and Vertonghen is confident of victory.
"Next week's game is massive for both teams," he added. "We took six points from the games against Swansea and QPR last week and we're closer to the big teams again.
"After we play United, we have a better run of games that we have to win -- but in our current form, we can go to Old Trafford with confidence and hopefully we can win."
Pochettino has already ruled out a long-haul preseason tour for his side in order to prepare for next season, with the squad set to be based at their state-of-the-art training base and travelling only for friendly matches.
Instead of a preseason tour, Spurs will instead embark on a postseason tour of New South Wales after their final game of the season against Everton on May 24, for a friendly against Sydney FC six days later.