Mauricio Pochettino says everyone at Tottenham will be cheering for Harry Kane and England’s Under-21s after the striker was selected for the European Under-21 Championship.
Pochettino had previously expressed his concerns about Kane’s workload, and Spurs had made it clear they would have preferred the prolific 21-year-old forward to have a rest this summer rather than leading the line for Gareth Southgate’s side at the tournament in the Czech Republic, which runs from June 17-30.
But, after face-to-face discussions at Tottenham’s training ground, Southgate picked Kane in his provisional squad – along with Spurs’ Eric Dier, Tom Carroll and Alex Pritchard – and Pochettino says the club will support the national team, and hope they go all the way.
“We need to be positive,” he said. “We spoke with the FA and Gareth [Southgate] and now we need to back the FA and the Under-21s. We hope they come back after the Euros with the trophy and Harry has scored a lot of goals, and we need to provide a good rest [so he can] start next season in a good condition.
“When we spoke with Gareth and the FA it was very important to hear from them, and them from us - our opinions. We shared our opinion and I’ve said before that the decision was always with the FA.
“The decision is done, now we need to back the FA and Under-21s and hope that it is a good tournament for Harry and the national team, and there’s nothing more [to say].
“It is our job to design a very good strategy to try and give Harry a good rest after the tournament and prepare him for the next season.
“We are not worried about that. Now we need to back Harry, and for Harry to be sure and confident in our skill to manage him when he is back from the tournament. Next season he will be stronger and fit for the new season.”
Kane has scored 30 goals in all competitions for Spurs but has drawn a blank in his last four.
Pochettino said: “I am not concerned because our experience is this happens in football, ups and downs with a player.
“It is difficult to score in every game during the season but I am not worried about that and only now we need to back him and be positive in the future.”
Follow me on Twitter @BenPearceSpurs
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