Mourinhoblastsmersonoverkanetalk

TOTTENHAM boss Jose Mourinho went on the attack in his defence of comments made about Harry Kane by Paul Merson.

The Sky Sports pundit suggested Kane would want to leave Spurs because of Mourinho’s pragmatic style of play and picked apart the England captain’s performance in Friday’s 1-1 draw with Manchester United.

But Mourinho, reading from a bit of paper in a clearly planned response, listed the scoring stats of former strikers Didier Drogba, Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Diego Milito and Zlatan Ibrahimovic and said Kane would have no issues scoring.

“I feel a bit strange at some analysis and some comments, especially as it looks to me that the beginning of some comments and analysis have started from Paul (Merson),” Mourinho said at his pre-match press conference previewing tonight’s visit of West Ham.

“I respect people like him and because I respect him, I want to be nice in my answer.

“First of all, Harry played his first game for six months.

“The record of goals that Harry has for me is easy. Go to your data and it’s easy to see how many games and goals.

“I had a few strikers that played for me and they’re not bad. I have a guy called (Didier) Drogba, he played for me four seasons, he scored 186 goals — an average (of ) 46 per season.

“I had another guy who is also not bad, plays for Juventus now (Ronaldo). He played for me three seasons, he scored 186 goals, which gives an average of 56 goals per season.

“So dear Paul, I have lots of respect for you. I think Harry Kane has no problem at all to score in my teams, especially when fit and fresh.”