Harry Kane out of England squad for Spain friendly as Gareth Southgate releases Tottenham striker
England striker Harry Kane is set to resume his recuperation at Tottenham after being deemed surplus to requirements for Tuesday’s friendly against Spain at Wembley.
Three Lions manager Gareth Southgate summoned Kane to his squad for Friday’s win over Scotland, despite him only returning from a seven-week injury lay-off the previous weekend.
The Spurs star was not needed as England won 3-0, and Southgate has decided to release Kane back to his club to continue fitness work rather than retain him for the visit of Spain.
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“Harry reported for us last week having not played a full game for some seven weeks but Tottenham were more than happy for him to come with us,” said Southgate.
“It was never really my intention to start him in a game and I think it’s important that he gets a different training programme to what we are going to follow over the next couple of days.
“I am really grateful to Tottenham for letting us have him for the qualifier. Once we had assessed our injury status and the fact we were fine and covered for what we would do for this game [against Spain], the sessions that we are going to do aren’t what Harry needs at this time, having had such a long lay-off.”
Southgate’s decision leaves him with five forwards – Daniel Sturridge, Wayne Rooney, Jamie Vardy, Marcus Rashford and Theo Walcott – to choose from for the final match of his caretaker period.
The erstwhile England Under-21 boss boosted his chances of being named full-time successor to Sam Allardyce with victory over Scotland, which took his tally to seven points from three World Cup qualifying matches.