England manager Gareth Southgate insists that Harry Kane has not had an injury at any point during the current international break and he is confused by reports to the contrary.
The Tottenham striker did not feature in the friendly win over Wales and came on for the last 25 minutes in the Nations League victory over Belgium on Sunday.
This comes after Southgate and Spurs boss Jose Mourinho traded comments in the press over Kane’s workload, with the Portuguese concerned about the forward playing regularly during the international break.
However, the England manager has played down any concerns, saying Kane has been dealing with sore muscles rather than any injury and there is no issue for him to play on Wednesday against Denmark.
‘He would have started the last game [vs Belgium] but hadn’t had enough training time, really. He was obviously fine during the game,’ said Southgate.
‘So, he’s fit, available. I didn’t really understand the stories that have been run. He hasn’t had an injury.
‘He was feeling muscle soreness, delayed muscle soreness, which often can happen to athletes. But there was no injury at any point, so our issue with Harry before Sunday’s game was to be able to perform at the highest level.
‘Now he’s got another additional couple of days training and it’s not even an issue.’
Southgate explains how there has been contact between club and country, but the issue has been resolved.
‘Medically, there’s been conversations [with Spurs],’ Southgate said. ‘He [Kane] started to train on the Wednesday, was a little unhappy with how he felt, so then worked with our medical team the next couple of days.
‘We scanned just to be certain but it’s a muscular fatigue issue rather than an injury so it just needed a bit more confidence.
‘He knew by then he could push on a little bit but he just needed a bit more confidence in it and so his training week really wasn’t suitable to start [against Belgium].
‘I think he’ll have gained more confidence from the spell he had [as a substitute] and so, all being well, we hope he’ll be good to start on Wednesday.’
After the 2-1 win over Belgium, England top their UEFA Nations League group and can maintain their lead at the top of Group A2 with victory over Denmark on Wednesday as Belgium take on Iceland.
