Jose Mourinho believes Harry Kane’s hamstring injury will keep him out for a while, and on Friday Spurs confirmed that Kane has suffered a tear to his left hamstring and have not given a date for his return.
2020 has not started well for Tottenham.
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Kane pulled up clutching his hamstring in Tottenham’s disappointing defeat at Southampton on New Year’s Day and the England star left St Mary’s on crutches.
Speaking about his main striker ahead of their FA Cup third round trip to Middlesbrough this weekend, Mourinho isn’t exactly confident that Kane will be back soon.
But Mourinho doesn’t want your sympathy. Oh no. Far from it.
“I think we’re going to lose him for some period and because I am totally convinced of that I can anticipate that, I don’t want to sit here with you crying in every press conference now,” Mourinho added. “Everybody knows who he is, what he is, what he means for the team, the fans, the club. His quality, the routines that the team has been playing with him, every minute of every game he doesn’t play we miss, so every match that he doesn’t play we’re going to miss him. But I don’t want to be crying here all the time, I want to focus now on the players that are available. Now Son is back I prefer to speak about Son than Harry.”
Mourinho will at least have Heung-min Son back from suspension for the trip to ‘Boro and beyond, while youngster Troy Parrott will likely get more minutes under his belt. They fact Liverpool and Man City in their next four Premier League games and Spurs are now really up against it as they battle with Chelsea, Man United and Wolves for a top four finish.
But losing Kane is like ripping the soul out of this Spurs team. He makes everything tick and sets the tone from the front, as well as scoring the vast majority of their goals. Since Mourinho arrived there has also been a more direct manner to their game with defenders clipping the ball up to Kane and hoping he can do the rest.
Mourinho will be hoping and praying that the English national team captain is back fit and ready to go for their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 clashes against RB Leipzig in late February and early March, but by the sound of things that will be touch and go.
Tottenham’s top four hopes and chances of advancing in Europe have taken a big hit due to Kane’s injury as he was forced to play almost the entirety of the festive fixtures due to Son’s red card against Chelsea.
Had Son not been sent off, Kane surely would have been rested for at least one of Spurs’ games over the holiday season. Instead he ran himself into the ground and this hamstring problem is down to a simple case of fatigue.