JOSE MOURINHO HEADED off questions about Harry Kane’s absence from Saturday’s Premier League showdown between Manchester United and Tottenham.
England striker Kane has fired Spurs to joint-second in the league with United, who will welcome Mauricio Pochettino’s men to Old Trafford looking to re-establish a cushion after last week’s defeat at Huddersfield Town.
A hamstring injury will prevent the league’s top scorer from playing, but Mourinho refused to divulge any tactical switches he could make, or his thoughts about taking on a clearly weakened opponent.
Mourinho began his news conference: “Because I know the question I don’t need the question, I’ll answer.
I don’t speak about injured players so don’t ask me about Harry Kane, because to speak about Harry Kane I have to speak about [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic, about [Paul] Pogba, about [Marcos] Rojo, about [Michael] Carrick, so I don’t speak. Next question.”
One player who will be available for Mourinho on Saturday is Nemanja Matic.
United parted with £40 million to sign the Chelsea midfielder, but Tottenham’s Eric Dier had also been linked with a switch to Old Trafford.
Pochettino accuses Mourinho of trying to unsettle the England international in his new book, but the United manager stated that Matic was always his number-one target.
“I have the player that I want to have,” Mourinho said.
“Probably I have the player that I didn’t think it was possible to have, but in the end we got the player that I really wanted.”
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