Jose’s jibe triggers Euros alarm over Harry
FRUSTRATED Tottenham manager Jose Mourinho quipped yesterday that England captain Harry Kane might even miss Euro 2020 after his hamstring operation.
While Spurs were quick to stress that the striker was on track for an April comeback, Mourinho said: ‘News on Harry we don’t have and, if you ask me every time we come here, the answer will be the same. We expect him to be out until mid-April, end of April, May, next season, I don’t know.’
The off-the-cuff remark may concern England manager Gareth Southgate who can ill afford to lose his talisman for the summer tournament.
Spurs hope to confirm Gedson Fernandes as the first signing of Mourinho’s managerial reign today. The club have agreed an 18-month loan deal with Benfica that includes an option to buy the Portugal midfielder for £56million. Spurs moved to sign the 21-year-old ahead of West Ham after he fell out of favour at Benfica. West Ham had been hopeful of landing Fernandes until late last week but he was then offered to Spurs by Jorge Mendes, the long-time agent of Mourinho.
The signing follows Spurs losing another midfielder, Moussa Sissoko, to a knee injury until April. Sissoko’s absence is one of several injury setbacks that have derailed Mourinho’s hopes of implementing his ideas since his arrival in November.
He has been forced to chop and change his team.
Mourinho, whose depleted side face Middlesbrough in an FA Cup third-round replay tonight, said: ‘If you want to know what I wanted to do here, you look to my first game — against West Ham.
‘That’s the way I thought I was going to develop the team. Defend with a back four, attack with a back three.
‘My left back defends as a left back and then when we go in attacking organisation, my left back becomes one of the three in the back. Build with three, protect the right back and do overloads on the other side.
‘That was the way I wanted to develop the team. That was the first day of unlucky, goodbye Ben Davies — and then I think everything started with Hugo Lloris. You lose your captain for so long and then, in my case, I lose Ben. Then you lose one more, and you lose one more, and you lose Harry Kane, and you don’t have a striker.
‘It’s a difficult situation but it’s a situation that helps me to better understand lots of the players and options, and what they have to give, and what they don’t have to give.’
Middlesbrough boss Jonathan Woodgate is confident his young guns will feel no fear on their trip to Spurs. Woodgate saw his team go toe to toe with his former club to claim a deserved 1-1 draw last week and is expecting more of the same. ‘When they’re out there, they’ll be absolutely fine,’ he said. ‘We have a lot of young players, they’ll have no fear, so I’m really looking forward to it.’