Southgate responds to Mourinho's pleas to NOT start Kane for England

Gareth Southgate understands Jose Mourinho’s concerns over Harry Kane, but he still hopes the England captain will start against Denmark.

Mourinho has publicly pleaded with Southgate to rest Kane over the international break despite England being scheduled for three games, including back-to-back Nations League fixtures.

The Tottenham boss wishes for his star striker to get some well-needed recovery time after the club’s congested start to the new season.

Fueling his fears was Kane needing to undergo a scan for a thigh problem, with Mourinho reportedly fearful he could aggravate his injury if he plays against Denmark on Wednesday evening at Wembley.

Southgate has already risked angering the Portuguese coach by playing Kane for the last 25 minutes of England’s 2-1 win over Belgium on Sunday. And it appears he may be about to do so again in the upcoming fixture.

“Well, medically, there’s been conversations, because that would always be the case,” the England boss said in response to questions on whether Spurs had contacted him about Kane as quoted on The Times.

“He reported on Sunday, we gave players that reported on Sunday, who weren’t involved in the Wales game for us, we gave them two days’ recovery.

“He started to train on Wednesday, was a little unhappy with how he felt, so then worked with our medical team the next couple of days, we scanned just to be certain but it’s a muscular fatigue issue rather than an injury, so it just needed a bit more confidence.

“He knew by then he could push on a little bit, but he just needed a bit more confidence in it, and so his training week really wasn’t suitable to start the game.

“I think he’ll have gained more confidence from the spell he had against Belgium, and so all being well, we hope he’ll be good to start on Wednesday.”