Pochettino: Kane can Czech out

Mauricio Pochettino says he is powerless to stop England’s “hero” Harry Kane from playing in the European Under-21 Championship this summer.

Kane, who scored on his England debut against Lithuania last month during an impressive season with Spurs, could feature in the Czech Republic instead of playing for Roy Hodgson’s England senior team.

Pochettino said: “We need to talk with the federation and take the best decision for Harry.

“But it is true he is like a hero for England. When you speak about Harry it’s a good thing for all, all people smile.

“It is easy to speak about Harry now but he is very quiet and calm and focused on scoring goals and helping the team.

“But nothing has changed and we need to understand it is Harry Kane’s decision.

“If he wants to go, if he believes it is the best thing for him then you cannot stop him.”

Kane’s emergence has piled focus on young English players, but Pochettino urged caution over throwing numerous young talents into first-team football.

“We need to be careful with that because it’s not because Harry Kane, (Ryan) Mason and (Nabil) Bentaleb are good this season, now we need to put all academy players in the first team,” he said.

“(We need) to try and bring players through the academy but we need to analyse and be careful with the young players.”