Football NewsGareth Southgate says he “doesn’t understand” the fuss over Harry Kane’s fitness
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Before the international hiatus, Mourinho stated his hopes that Southgate would not overuse Kane, with the England boss saying Mourinho should support that by resting in front of Kane next summer.

Harry Kane is fully fit

Gareth Southgate says he “doesn’t understand” the fuss over Harry Kane’s fitness, as he insists the striker is “fully fit” after a public exchange with Spurs coach Jose Mourinho. Before the international hiatus, Mourinho stated his hopes that Southgate would not overuse Kane, with the England boss saying Mourinho should support that by resting in front of Kane next summer. The 27-year-old striker was dealing with muscle fatigue and did not participate in a friendly with Wales last Thursday. Harry then started on the bench against Belgium on Sunday before replacing Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the 66th minute. Southgate said Kane should start against Denmark, despite Mourinho’s fears that England’s boss doesn’t necessarily understand. “I don’t understand the story because Kane has been fully fit since the end of last week, just before the last match,” the coach said.

Southgate have never lost a player through an injury

“Kane would have started the last game, but he didn’t have enough practice time. He was fine during the match, so he is fit, and I didn’t understand the story. So where it comes from has nothing to do with the conversations we had with Spurs medically and it doesn’t affect us in the camp. He is fit and he has no injuries. He had a delay in muscle soreness that stopped his training initially, but there hasn’t been an injury at any point. We are not risking players, and I said that before camp. The welfare of the players is always my priority; we never bet a player and end up with infrequent injuries during games. That happens. But we have never lost a man through injury due to training stress, and we pride ourselves on looking after the players.

“We want them to be as fit and sharp as possible for the games. Our problem with Harry before Sunday’s game was to be able to perform at the highest level. Now he has been training for several days; it is not an issue”. England will face Denmark on Wednesday before Kane returns to Spurs ahead of Sunday’s clash with West Ham.