“In my head, I’m at the Euros” — Harry Kane targets April Tottenham return

Tottenham Hotspur’s Harry Kane is close to a return to action. Spurs’ iconic home-grown striker is a few weeks away from rejoining his teammates on the pitch in North London as he recuperates from a hamstring injury he sustained on New Year’s Day, and it’s fantastic news for Tottenham supporters.

Kane opened up about his rehabilitation and more specifically about his chances of featuring for England in this summer’s European Championship competition in a forthcoming interview from ES Magazine (via the Evening Standard). In there he says he’s working hard to come back in time to not only captain England, but play a significant role in the Three Lions’ starting XI.

“In my head, I am definitely at the Euros. Unless something pretty drastic happens between now and then, I’ll be there. I’m still not back training with the first team, but I’m working hard in the gym, I’m getting stronger all the time.

“We’re talking a few more weeks, and I’ll be playing again. I don’t want to make a prediction for which game I might be back, but I am hoping somewhere between the start and the middle of April.”

Oh, also he’d like to help Tottenham regain its mojo too, right Harry? RIGHT?

Kane is very clearly pushing himself to come back as quickly as possible, and that’s also clearly because of the EUROS, which Kane values extremely highly. If you’re a Spurs fan, that’s a double-edged sword. On the one hand, having Harry back on the pitch would be fantastic considering they are floundering right now and have struggled to generate offense without him or Son Heung-Min.

On the other hand, we’ve seen what can happen when Kane rushes himself back from injury too soon — when he returned from an ankle injury last season in time for the Champions League final, he looked significantly off the pace, and we saw a similar phenomenon when he returned early from past injuries as well. It’s an ongoing concern that Kane could be trying to engineer his own recovery against what is best for his long-term health.

This summer could be a pivotal one for Tottenham. Journalist Matt Law wrote yesterday in the Telegraph that Kane is said to be considering his future at Tottenham if Spurs don’t qualify for the Champions League and is frustrated at the club’s lack of trophies during his tenure. That article also suggests that Spurs’ summer transfer funds would only be around £50m if the club doesn’t finish in a Champions League qualification place. (It should be noted, however, that Law wrote the exact same article almost a year ago to the day in 2019, and that reports of “transfer kittys” and the like at this stage of the season should be regarded with extreme skepticism at best.) There aren’t any indications that any clubs would be serious about a summer move for Kane, just as there aren’t any indications that the club would have any inclination to sell him. But expect this to be a talking point all summer long.

At any rate, it seems as though Kane’s early return will be England’s gain this summer. And Tottenham’s too, I guess. His quotes do seem to indicate which goal he’s got his sights more firmly on, howeer.