Just over a week before Harry Kane leads England into battle at the World Cup, Tottenham boss Antonio Conte claimed that Kane is running on empty.
Kane was started by Conte in Spurs’ 2-0 League Cup loss to Nottingham Forest on Wednesday due to a lack of alternative options.
The England captain started each of Tottenham’s 21 games in all competitions this season before being replaced at the hour mark.
Son Heung-min is presently out for Conte with a shattered eye socket, and Richarlison and Dejan Kulusevski are recovering from injuries.
“He was really, really tired. Yesterday we had a soft training session, really soft and at one point he stopped himself to recover energy,” said Conte.
“I repeat he’s okay, it’s only fatigue, but it is normal because Harry played every game.
“When you have a player like him it is difficult to decide not to play with him.”
The group stages of European club championships were condensed into a two-month period to create room in the schedule for a first mid-season World Cup.
Spurs will have played 13 games in 42 days before the World Cup break by the time they take on Leeds on Saturday.
“Harry Kane showed to be a really good man also,” added Conte as he thanked his players for not pulling out of games to save themselves for their countries.
“But not only him it is the same for (Pierre-Emile) Hojbjerg, (Rodrigo) Bentancur, (Ivan) Perisic, (Eric) Dier.
“We faced a bad situation about the injuries and we arrive at the end in difficulty. Now we have to try to rest and recover energy.”
