Antonio Conte is always talking about Tottenham Hotspur hitman Harry Kane off the record.
That’s according to Sky Sports journalist Michael Bridge, who told Give Me Sport that the Italian manager is constantly mentioning the 29-year-old when the cameras are off.
Kane has been Spurs’ most important player consistently since breaking into the senior squad eight years ago, but he’s played over one thousand minutes of Premier League and Champions League football already this season.
And worryingly, Tottenham don’t really have a number nine who can come into replace him.
As a result, Bridge believes that Conte will be forced to start the England international in every Lilywhites game between now and the World Cup, with the exception of a League Cup outing with Nottingham Forest.
Bridge also pointed to the frequency in which the Spurs boss speaks about his number nine as a measure of how important he is.
He said: “I think he’ll start every game bar Nottingham Forest in the Carabao Cup; I do. Just listening to Conte off-camera, when he speaks to the written press, he just mentions Kane all the time, I don’t think he can afford to not play him.”
Kane has played every minute of the North Londoners’ three Champions League games this season – and the same will probably be true later this week when Conte’s side host Eintracht Frankfurt.
However, the former Inter Milan coach absolutely has to be mindful about Kane’s workload.
One injury to him and Tottenham’s season takes a major turn for the worst, particularly with how Son Heung-min is performing.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
