Harry Kane is injured and cannot play, insists Gareth Southgate, in wake of Mauricio Pochettino’s comments

Gareth Southgate has rejected suggestions he is embroiled in a club‑versus-country row during a World Cup year and says he has never taken a risk with a player’s fitness.

The England manager’s preparations for Friday's friendly against Germany at Wembley and Brazil’s visit next Tuesday have been hit by six withdrawals from the Premier League’s top clubs.

Tottenham trio Dele Alli, Harry Kane and Harry Winks, Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling and Fabian Delph, and Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson all pulled out with injuries after Southgate had named his 26-man squad.

The manager has been forced to turn to uncapped Burnley midfielder Jack Cork and recall out-of-form pair Jake Livermore and Michael Keane, leaving him with a depleted squad to face the two best nations in the world.

Third-placed Tottenham have a pivotal north London derby after the international break and it has been suggested that managers are prioritising their clubs over England, particularly after Mauricio Pochettino, the Spurs boss, confirmed yesterday Kane would be fit for the visit to Arsenal on November 18.

But Southgate said all the withdrawals were genuinely unfit to play.

“I knew Harry Kane was in trouble because he stayed down [against Palace]. Harry Kane doesn’t stay down,” he said. “Both him and Harry Winks were scanned. Both scans were reviewed by our medical department — there’s no way they’re available for our two games.

“Spurs might risk them against Arsenal. I’m hearing talk of club versus country — it’s a nonsense. The players are injured and can’t play.

“With some players, it’s 100 per cent clear — there’s a scan. With a couple of other lads, there’s ongoing discussions with them. I have man-to-man discussions with them around how much risk we want to take.”

It has been reported this week that Jose Mourinho is concerned about the strain being placed on his Manchester United players during this international break, while Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp criticised Southgate last month for playing Henderson for the entirety of the World Cup qualifiers against Slovenia and Lithuania, when the latter was a dead-rubber.

But Southgate continued: “Having been a player, I’m not a manager who wants to wheel players out until they break. I don’t take risks with players.

“It’s their livelihood, their careers. In a cup final or a critical game, maybe we have a really open conversation.

“But as a manager, you have a duty of care to players to make sure things are done correctly. Last two internationals weeks, every player who has come back has been available for their clubs the following weekend. I know Jurgen was disappointed I played Jordan twice, but there was no risk.

“We knew Jordan had an ongoing issue but he was available for Saturday. We were clear on how that needed to be managed. I’ve never taken a risk with a player.”

The FA have said they will take the strongest possible action against any fan who acts inappropriately during tomorrow’s friendly, which is two days before Remembrance Sunday.

England’s last meeting with Germany, in Dortmund eight months ago, was overshadowed by the behaviour of some England supporters, who booed the home anthem and derogatory songs about World War Two.

Southgate was criticised at the time for failing to condemn the behaviour but said today: “I was asked about this immediately after the game in Dortmund and I wasn’t aware at the time of exactly what had been said, so I wasn’t as strong as I’d liked to have been. We have a huge percentage of fans who follow us brilliantly. An element of things that were shouted that night were completely unacceptable.

“They don’t represent us, the people that do that. I want to be very specific — I don’t want it to be ‘our fans’ as a collective. We’re talking about individuals.”

Meanwhile, Gary Cahill, who has been an injury concern this week sat out training this morning.

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