HARRY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN
After months of injury and lockdown frustration, Spurs and England star Kane is back training and raring to go
HARRY KANE is back.
Having recovered from the ruptured hamstring which plunged Spurs fans into despair on New Year’s Day, the Spurs striker is fit and raring to go.
The damage done to Kane on January 1 dealt a blow to Tottenham and England hopes alike.
And Spurs boss Jose Mourinho could see the dark clouds gathering even more seven weeks later when Kane’s strike partner Heung-min Son went down clutching his right arm against Aston Villa.
The fracture sustained by the South Korean appeared to have dealt a final blow to Mourinho’s season and when Covid19 swept around the globe, all thoughts of any end to the campaign, never mind a successful one, went out of the window.
But with Premier League football perhaps on the horizon and Kane on the mend, a glimmer of hope still exists at Tottenham that they can finish strongly and snatch a Champions League place.
Understandably, Kane has mixed feelings. Optimism around what his return does for Spurs’ top-four chances once football restarts is offset by the havoc wreaked on the game as a whole by the coronavirus.
Relief among fans that the England No.9 has had the rest he has needed for so long is displaced by the more urgent focus on the crisis engulfing the industry.
Kane announced his return in typically selfless fashion by sponsoring the shirt of Leyton
Orient – the club where he made his senior debut in 2011 – for next season.
Yet fear, logistics and the simmering tensions among dissenting players also means that whether Project Restart is green-lit for June 12 or
June 19, the return of top-flight football in this country remains uncertain.
Kane said: “I don’t think anyone knows the right answer at the moment.
“I think the majority of players are looking forward to playing again as soon as possible – but we know we want it to be as safe as possible too.
“From what I have heard – obviously I haven’t seen too much of my team-mates – everyone is OK.
“We want to see how the Premier League gives us a plan and what that looks like. I guess we just go from there.
“I am happy to start training in small groups if that is allowed and just trying to get back to some normality as soon as possible. I guess everyone is different and has their own view.” It is nearly 10 weeks since some Premier League players last kicked a ball in anger – longer for Kane. Culture secretary Oliver Dowden (left), the man insistent the Government is “opening the door” for a restart, chaired Thursday’s meeting with top-flight chief executives, as well as representatives from the EFL and FA.
While the game fights to find a way forward, Kane insists Liverpool’s 25-point lead at the top makes them worthy champions whatever happens.
“Liverpool deserve to lift the title and with their fans missing it will be a strange situation,” he said.
“But we’ve not been through a time like this in our lifetimes.
“Fans are a massive part of football, they make football what it is.
“It will be different to play without them, I have done it before in a game for England and it is not the same.
“But I guess if we want to finish the season then we are going to have to do that.”