Harry Kane will be named in England’s Nations League Finals squad on Thursday despite the striker’s ankle ligament injury, Press Association Sport understands.
After captaining the Three Lions to the World Cup semi-finals last summer, the 25-year-old is in a race to be fit in time for Tottenham’s Champions League final and a shot at silverware in Portugal with his country the following week.
Kane has been out of action since sustaining what Spurs called “a significant lateral ligament injury to his left ankle” in the first leg of their quarter-final clash with Manchester City five weeks ago.
Spurs team-mate Harry Winks’ case appears less cut and dry following groin surgery at the end of April, but England do have some time on their side given they do not have to submit their final 23-man squad to UEFA until May 27.
Press Association Sport understands that a standby list will not be named for the finals, with Southgate instead plumping for a slightly larger provisional group.
Their semi-final against Holland on June 6 come just five days after Spurs take on Liverpool in the Champions League final, which could involve as many as 10 players named in Thursday’s squad.
They will have to hotfoot it to Portugal after the final, as will the likes of Chelsea midfielders Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Ross Barkley following the Europa League final against Arsenal in Baku on May 29.
“It is just making sure the players we are working with are as prepared as they can be. Then we will fit those other players back into the programme when they arrive back with us.
“We won’t have long before our matches but actually we are used to that as with our international weeks we only get two or three days’ preparation.
“Although you would like more for a semi-final, and we could have had more, we haven’t and we have just got to deal with that.”
Southgate’s group will meet for the first time on Tuesday, but those involved in the FA Cup final between Manchester City and Watford will be given the week off. Jadon Sancho is also set to get some downtime with Borussia Dortmund’s campaign ending this weekend.
Jesse Lingard should be back after missing March’s meet up with a hamstring issue – a player Southgate saw up close when foregoing the Premier League title deciders on Sunday to check out Manchester United’s players in a humiliating 2-0 loss to Cardiff.
Luke Shaw was conspicuous by his absence from the squad at Old Trafford, but Ben Chilwell and Danny Rose appear to have established themselves as the first-choice left-back options.
