Mason Mount fit to face Poland after missing England training on Tuesday; England play Poland at Wembley in World Cup Qualifier on Wednesday (kick-off 7.45pm); Robert Lewandowski to miss game for Poland
Tuesday 30 March 2021 22:32, UK
Harry Kane is "positive" about his prospects at Tottenham and is not distracted by speculation surrounding his future, says England manager Gareth Southgate.
Ahead of England's World Cup Qualifier in Albania last week, Kane, who has three years remaining on his contract at Spurs, was asked whether the speculation around his future could impact his performances for the Three Lions.
His reluctance to offer a cast-iron assurance he will still be at Tottenham next season only increased the existing speculation.
However, England boss Southgate does not expect the transfer talk to distract Kane as he captains his side at the European Championship coming up this summer.
"He is so focused, I had a chat with him, as I do with all the players, when he came into camp. He was very positive about Spurs, talking about only being a few points off the Champions League and in a League Cup final," Southgate revealed at his press conference ahead of Wednesday's World Cup qualifier against Poland at Wembley.
"You could see his focus the other day, he scored a fantastic goal. An excellent assist as well, I have no worries about Harry Kane, he is a fantastic professional and his focus is on the next training session, the next match. He can put everything to one side."
Southgate added that Kane's appetite for silverware, which is natural for any highly-motivated player, could be met by either Tottenham and England. Spurs take on Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final on April 25, live on Sky Sports.
"I think Harry is of course a highly motivated player, all players want to win things. He has got an opportunity with his club in the next few weeks to that," he continued.
"I have four players in the other dressing room so I can't state any preference for that.
"He wants to be in the latter stages of competitions, he has played in a Champions League final for Tottenham, he has a second League Cup final coming up.
"Those are the occasions he wants to be involved in. You want to be at major tournaments and in the important matches in the league."
Southgate has allayed fears over Mason Mount's fitness by revealing the midfielder should be fit to face Poland.
There were doubts surrounding Mount's fitness after he missed part of training on Tuesday. However, the 22-year-old is expected to feature at Wembley in Wednesday's Group I tie.
Southgate said of the Chelsea player: "No, he didn't warm up with the team but he did the rest of the session with the team.
"He should be fine. They are all available as far as we are concerned."
Poland will be without star striker Robert Lewandowski for the game. The Bayern Munich forward will be out for around four weeks with a knee ligament injury and will miss both legs of Bayern Munich's Champions League quarter-final clash against Paris Saint-Germain.
But Poland head coach Paulo Sousa is trying to remain positive in the absence of his talismanic captain.
"It is an important moment for us to build up strongly our mentality without an important reference like Robert," said Sousa.
"For the ones on the pitch, they need to produce this mentality where Poland can be strong after this match."
Three Poland players will also miss the game after testing positive but after returning a negative second test having initially also recorded a positive response, influential midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak will now be available to Sousa at Wembley.
Sousa added: "Especially against teams like England... to have an experienced player in the middle of the park, it's not only what he can reach himself but what he can transmit and communicate to the other ones to handle the complexity of the game."
