England manager Gareth Southgate has allayed fears over Mason Mount’s fitness by revealing the midfielder should be fit to face Poland.
There were doubts surrounding Mount’s fitness after he missed part of training on Tuesday. However, the 22-year-old is expected to feature at Wembley in Wednesday’s Group I tie.
Southgate said of the Chelsea player: “No, he didn’t warm up with the team but he did the rest of the session with the team.
“He should be fine. They are all available as far as we are concerned.”
The boss on @masonmount_10: "He didn’t warm up with the rest of the team today, but he did the rest of the session after so he should be fine." pic.twitter.com/IGDXVckljd— England (@England) March 30, 2021
Speculation over the future of Three Lions captain Harry Kane has been present throughout this international camp with the Tottenham striker yet to win any silverware with his club side.
But Southgate does not expect it to distract Kane, with the European Championship coming up this summer.
Southgate added: “I’ve got no worries about Harry Kane, he’s a fantastic professional. He is always focused on the next match, he’s someone who can absolutely put anything to one side.”
Southgate, who is taking part in a study investigating the link between football and dementia, believes patience is required with research ongoing on the subject.
He said: “I have completed some of the tests that are being conducted on former players so that data is being collated.
“On the back of that I have had interaction with some families who are going through that difficult process with ex-players. I went through that process with one family with the PFA and I thought the support was excellent.
“There is a lot going on in the background…and Charlotte (Cowie) in our organisation is doing a fantastic job, but it takes time. It is easy to get small amounts of data and come to the wrong conclusions.”
Poland will be without all-time leading goalscorer and captain Robert Lewandowski due to a knee injury.
Robert Lewandowski has suffered sprained ligaments in his right knee. The striker will be out for around four weeks. pic.twitter.com/aK7lPgso3g— 🏆🏆🏆FC Bayern English🏆🏆🏆 (@FCBayernEN) March 30, 2021
Southgate insisted: “I think Poland have got some excellent players and we would be naive to think they would be less of a threat.
“If we take our foot off the gas for one minute we will be hurt. We need to be ready for the game, which we are. A team isn’t just about one player and we have to prepare for the highest level.”
Declan Rice was alongside Southgate for the press conference, but the West Ham midfielder does not believe he is a guaranteed pick for the Euros.
He said: “No, I don’t think you can ever think like that as a player because we have such a good squad and such strong competition in the middle.”
Your two @bt_uk Player of the Match winners 🤩 pic.twitter.com/4DsShYj999— England (@England) March 30, 2021
Rice regularly interacts with his followers on Twitter and Instagram but various other key figures in the sport are coming off social media due to a lack of action when it comes to racism on the platform.
Ex-Arsenal and Barcelona forward Thierry Henry deactivated his accounts on Saturday and described social media as “too toxic to ignore”.
Rice added: “Something definitely has to be done. There has been way too much, within the last year especially, with social media abuse and things said on social media.
“For someone like me who runs my account and has that interaction and love with the fans, I don’t have any problems with social media and it is important someone like me can have that interaction with West Ham fans, England fans, but Thierry Henry has boycotted it.
“I see (Gareth) Bale has come out and said something so maybe it is a decision that will be spoken about (amongst the England players) in the future, but at the moment, no.”
