Tottenham assistant manager Cristian Stellini has spoken out about Harry Kane’s fitness concerns ahead of Saturday’s game at Wolves..
Spurs left Kane on the bench for their FA Cup fifth round tie against Sheffield United on Wednesday, and the decision backfired spectacularly as the Blades won 1-0 to advance to the last eight, where they will face fellow Championship side Blackburn Rovers.
Unless they win the Champions League, it will be another trophy-less season for the north London club, which has clearly chosen Champions League football over FA Cup football.
Stellini was asked if he had any regrets about not starting Kane, who came off the bench and missed a big chance, as the inquest into Spurs’ latest cup failure began.
Stellini insisted there were no regrets and that the decision was made to reduce Kane’s workload, as the England striker had recently been afflicted.
“I have no regrets,” said the Italian, who has been in charge of the first team while Antonio Conte recovers from gallbladder surgery.
“We need to look in the medium period, we have many games. We have to take care of our best player, Harry Kane, who has played in the last six games, once with a fever and once with a problem.
We played with Richarlison, Lucas Moura, and Sonny [Son Heung-min], so it’s not about Harry. I believe it is adequate to compete in this competition and against this type of team.
“He was ill one week ago and he didn’t train on some days because he was very ill,” Stellini said when asked if Kane was injured. He didn’t because he was sick after playing a game with a fever.
“For that reason we decided to keep him on the bench and maybe play a part of the match. A player like this must work in addition to playing.
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