Harry Kane: Jose Mourinho not concerned about Tottenham striker’s comments on his fut…

Jose Mourinho insists he has to focus on Harry Kane’s form for Tottenham between now and the end of the season and not on any speculation surrounding the forward’s future.

Kane, who scored the opener in England’s win over Albania and a penalty in the 2-1 victory over Poland during the international break, has indicated that he will make a decision on his Tottenham future after the European Championships, admitting that it is a “hard question to answer right now”.

England boss Gareth Southgate believes Kane is not focusing on any transfer talk ahead of the Euros and insists the striker feels “positive” about finishing the season strongly at Spurs.

But although the forward has three years remaining on his current deal at Tottenham, it has been suggested that Kane may want to move elsewhere in order to challenge for major trophies, and the striker’s latest comments have fuelled speculation concerning whether he will still be at the club next season.

The 27-year-old is reportedly attracting interest from Manchester United, Manchester City and Real Madrid.

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When questioned about Kane’s recent revelation, Mourinho said: “I cannot play that game. I have to focus on what he is for us.

“Of course I’m always pleased with my players when they go to international games but I cannot play that game.

“I can only focus on what he does for us and the effort he put in for us at Villa, the effort he put in for England, and the match at Newcastle and whether playing well or not, he will be there for the team.

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Pressed on whether he would like Kane to be more definite about his future at this stage, he said: “No, I want Harry to be with us what he has been [like].

“I want Harry to repeat against Newcastle the same performance he gave against Aston Villa, the same desire, team spirit, and leadership and I know that I am going to have that.”

Kane has been in scintillating form for his boyhood club this season. The striker is tied with Mohamed Salah on 17 goals at the top of the Premier League goalscoring chart and has added considerably more assists (13) to his game over the course of the campaign compared with previous years.

With an EFL Cup final date with Manchester City on April 25, challenging for a Champions League spot in the Premier League and the Euros with England, Mourinho says Kane must focus on “the moment he is living in”, and not any talk of him departing the north London club.

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He added: “I don’t know whether there is always a smile on his face. What I know is that he is professional, and a part of being talented or not is [whether or not] a player is professional.

“I am very, very pleased to have him and happy to see him and all the other guys when they go to their national teams, especially when they have positive results.

“He is leaving a very good period for club and country and he has a nice challenge between now and the end of the season.

“He has a final to play, he has a Premier League games to fight for every point, then he has a Euros with the possibility to play the final at Wembley.

“He has to be happy with the moment he is living in.”

‘We must rely on other teams to finish in Champions League spots’

Tottenham are currently sixth in the Premier League, three points behind the top four with seven games remaining this term.

After losing in the final of the Champions League to Liverpool 2019, Spurs were knocked out at the competition by RB Leipzig at the round-of-16 stage last term and were then dumped out of this season’s Europa League in embarrassing fashion away at Dinamo Zagreb in March.

Despite recent back-to-back defeats against Zagreb and Arsenal, Spurs have recorded six wins from their last eight in all competitions.

Against Newcastle, Mourinho feels his side can kick on from the 2-0 triumph over Aston Villa last time out, in their bid to finish in the Champions League spots, but stresses that his side are not getting carried away with any “possibilities”.

Mourinho said: “I am confident that we can win Sunday and on Monday, if you ask me, if I will be confident we will win against Manchester United next week.

“To reach a Champions League position we do not depend on results from ourselves but also from other teams. We have to take one game at a time.

“I expect a team trying to win the match or at least trying to get a point because in this moment, a point sometimes can be very very important. They [Newcastle] are a difficult team to play against so I expect a difficult match for us.

“I don’t want to speak about that possibility. I am not going to be pessimistic or anticipate a scenario or evaluate our season before the season ends.”

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‘Son will start against Newcastle’

Mourinho’s attacking selection options have been boosted with Heung-Min Son having returned to training this week after sustaining a hamstring injury against Arsenal in last month’s north London derby. The setback also saw Son miss the victory over Villa.

The forward has scored 17 goals and made 14 assists in 39 matches in all competitions so far in another impressive season for the South Korean.

“Son is good. He will be selected [on Sunday]”, Mourinho said.

“He was injured, he trained with the team fully for the first time this morning.

“Yesterday he was coming to do partial exercises, not a complete session, this was the first day he did it.

“Last week he didn’t train at all so it was completely impossible for him to play international or if there was a game yesterday or Tuesday. This was a good time for him to recover from injury.”

Sergio Reguilon was a doubt for the match at St James’ Park following a knock to his knee but will be available for the test against Steve Bruce’s side, meanwhile, full-backs Matt Doherty and Ben Davies remain sidelined.

Watch Newcastle vs Tottenham this Sunday live on Sky Sports Premier League and Main Event from 2pm; kick-off 2.05pm.