After a lackluster performance against Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup and less than a week before he leads England into battle at the World Cup, Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte has claimed Harry Kane is “really tired.”
Kane was started by Conte in Spurs’ 2-0 League Cup loss to Forest on Wednesday due to a lack of alternative options.
The England captain was replaced on the hour mark, but has now started all of Tottenham’s 21 games in all competitions this season.
England boss Gareth Southgate names his squad for the World Cup on Thursday.
Conte is currently without Son Heung-min due to a fractured eye socket, while Richarlison and Dejan Kulusevski are making their way back from injury.
“He was really, really tired. Yesterday we had a soft training session, really soft and at one point he stopped himself to recover energy,” said Conte.
“I repeat he’s OK, it’s only fatigue, but it is normal because Harry played every game.
Harry Kane is “really really tired” 11 days before the start of a World Cup… pic.twitter.com/zBkhHCCxsc
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“When you have a player like him it is difficult to decide not to play with him.”
“Harry Kane showed to be a really good man also,” added Conte as he thanked his players for not pulling out of games to save themselves for their countries.
“But not only him it is the same for [Pierre-Emile] Hojbjerg, [Rodrigo] Bentancur, [Ivan] Perisic, [Eric] Dier.
“We faced a bad situation about the injuries and we arrive at the end in difficulty. Now we have to try to rest and recover energy.”
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