‘He won’t phone but he’ll stand on top of Tottenham’s stadium and tell us’: Gareth Southgate bites back at Jose Mourinho’s plea for England to rest Harry Kane – and says Spurs …
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Gareth Southgate has hit back at Jose Mourinho’s suggestion that England must rest Harry Kane and other key players during the upcoming international break due to the frantic Premier League fixture list.
Last season Tottenham were badly hit by injuries at a key part in the campaign, and were left without talisman Kane from January to June. Now Mourinho is clearly fearing history repeating itself as England prepare for a triple bill of fixtures with limited rest.
Mourinho made an unsubtle and public attempt to persuade Southgate to limit Kane’s game time ahead of a busy run of fixtures for both Tottenham and the Three Lions, but the England boss laughed it off and took a playful dig at Mourinho himself.
Gareth Southgate has bit back on the recent selection suggestions aimed at him
Jose Mourinho made sure to make his opinion known regarding captain Harry Kane’s fitness
Southgate responded to Mourinho by saying it is his duty to keep Kane safe from injury
Responding during a press conference on Thursday, Southgate said: ‘All Jose needs to do in April and May is he’s got to look after Harry Kane for us because there will be 55 million people relying on that.
‘Jose was on great form, I heard him. He won’t phone but he will stand on the top of Tottenham’s stadium and tell us, so that was good.
‘I’m upset I am not one of his friends. I know Steve [Holland] is but in fairness he helped him to a title so that’s understandable’, Southgate added with a smile.
Southgate joked of how his assistant Steve Holland (right) helped Mourinho win the title
Mourinho is desperate to avoid a repeat of last season when Kane was sidelined for months
‘We’re certainly not looking to start players in three games.
‘I can’t guarantee that no player will play no minutes of all three games. You might end up having to put someone on for five minutes and then people will be saying: “well you didn’t do what you said.”‘
‘But our aim is to manage the squad, we’ve got to be responsible, we’re conscious of the welfare of the players. This season as a whole is a huge challenge for clubs and national teams so we’ve got to work together on that.
‘It doesn’t help anybody if we’re not joined up on our thinking.’
Mourinho had publicly made the point that he did not start Kane against Chelsea in the Carabao Cup, and used this to send a message to England by saying: ‘When Kane is fit he should start every game for Tottenham but he didn’t [against Chelsea],’
He added: ‘So I think this is the point. When you have such a player and you want to win every match, you play him, but you just can’t do it.
‘I don’t speak with Gareth or Steve [Holland, assistant manager]. I just let them do the job in the way they want to do it with the freedom they deserve.
‘Hopefully Gareth and Steve understand what happened with Tottenham this week and they respect the players. That’s just my hope but I’m not going to call or ask or beg.’
Harry Maguire will make his England return following his infamous summer arrest in Mykonos
Southgate has recalled a number of senior stars who missed the September camp and Nations League clashes because of injury.
That includes Chelsea new boy Ben Chilwell and his former Leicester team-mate James Maddison, along with another of Mourinho’s Spurs players in Harry Winks.
Marcus Rashford also returns, while defender Harry Maguire is included for the first time since his summer arrest on holiday in Mykonos.
Youngsters Mason Greenwood and Phil Foden are omitted from the squad, following their breaking of strict Covid-19 bubble rules by sneaking girls into the team hotel in the aftermath of England’s victory over Iceland last month.
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