Jose Mourinho couldn’t resist a cheeky dig at Gareth Southgate as the tension builds between the pair over the management of Harry Kane’s workload.
The England skipper’s fitness record has become a matter of increasing concern to both his club and national team manager.
Kane has suffered significant injuries in each of the past three years, but has recovered from his latest setback, a hamstring strain which ruled him out of a large portion of the previous campaign, but has started the current season in supreme goalscoring form.
The 27-year-old scored a hat-trick in last night’s 7-2 win over Maccabi Haifa which saw Spurs book their place in the group stages of the Europa League, shortly after his presence in Southgate’s Three Lions squad had been confirmed.
England face three matches in the space of the next 10 days and Mourinho had reportedly been putting pressure on Southgate to resist the temptation of starting Kane in matches against Wales, Belgium and Denmark.
Southgate, however, was quick to point out that the handling of the Tottenham talisman’s workload works both ways, but Mourinho diminshed the importance of England’s upcoming matches and defended his use of Kane against limited Israeli opposition last night.
He said: ‘His match was a fundamental match for us. A match that means a few million pounds and means that we are in a group phase of a competition that we have ambitions,”
‘What I can promise to my friend Steve Holland and for Gary [Gareth Southgate] not to be jealous, for my friend Gary, I can promise that until the end of the season I don’t play Harry Kane one minute of any friendly match.’
An official statement from Benfica read: ‘Sport Lisboa e Benfica – Futebol, SAD informed the Securities Market Commission (CMVM) that it reached an agreement with Tottenham Hotspur for the loan of player Carlos Vinicius until the end of the 2020-21 sports season for an amount of 3 millions of euros.
‘The said agreement, communicated at 11:56 pm on Thursday, includes a purchase option clause in the amount of 45 million euros, to which, if exercised, the amount paid for the loan will be deducted.
‘The agreement is dependent on the signing of the striker’s sports work contract with Tottenham Hotspur.’
