England release recovering Kane ahead of Spain friendly

London (AFP) – Harry Kane has returned to Tottenham Hotspur to build up his fitness after injury and will play no part in England’s home friendly against Spain on Tuesday.

The 23-year-old was an unused substitute in England’s 3-0 defeat of Scotland on Friday in World Cup qualifying, having only just returned from a seven-week lay-off with an ankle injury.

Kane, who has become a key player for England, played 73 minutes for Tottenham in last weekend’s north London derby against Arsenal and scored a penalty, but is short of match fitness.

“Harry reported for us last week having not played a full game for some seven weeks but Tottenham were more than happy for him to come with us,” said interim England manager Gareth Southgate.

“It was never really my intention to start him in a game and I think it’s important that he gets a different training programme to what we’re going to follow over the next couple of days.

“I’m really grateful to Tottenham for letting us have him for the qualifier. Once we’d assessed our injury status and the fact we were fine and covered for what we’d do for this game, the sessions that we’re going to do aren’t what Harry needs at this time, having had such a long lay-off.”

England have not called up a replacement for Kane, with Daniel Sturridge, Jamie Vardy, Marcus Rashford, Wayne Rooney and Theo Walcott all available to fill attacking roles.