Kane praises Pochettino's 'fantastic job' at Tottenham as striker insists he's fully fit for Champions League final

Harry Kane says Mauricio Pochettino has done "a fantastic job" at Tottenham, amid speculation linking the Argentine with a summer move to Juventus, as the forward insists he is fully fit for the Champions League final. 

Pochettino has been tipped to take the reins at Real Madrid and Manchester United previously this season but Juventus are the latest club to reportedly be after his services following Massimiliano Allegri's departure. 

But the Argentine refused to be drawn on the links at a press conference on Monday,  insisting it is embarrassing to talk about his future ahead of Saturday's clash with Liverpool. 

Talisman Kane commented on the impact Pochettino has had in north London, though, and is also relishing the opportunity to play in a Champions League final.

"He’s been massive," the 25-year-old said. "Since he took over he’s had a plan to become one of the best teams in Europe and now we’re not far away from the biggest game in Europe and in our club’s history.

"He’s done a fantastic job, he’s a great manager. All the players want to fight and play and do everything for him.

"That’s the standards he’s set, you see the way the club is now, the training ground, the stadium, playing in Champions League finals, that was the plan and now it’s to win it, and step on and to go on to win more and more. It starts on Saturday.

"It’s a chance to make a statement in this club’s history and there’s no bigger stage to do that."

Kane has been fighting to recover from an ankle injury he sustained after a challenge from Manchester City's Fabian Delph on April 9 in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals.

The forward has confirmed he is now training with the Spurs squad and believes he will be fit for the final in Madrid, as well as England's UEFA Nations League finals squad. 

When asked what he had done to get fit for the final, Kane said: “This one, we’ve had a bit more time. From when it happened, we weren’t in the Champions League final at the time, but it was ‘OK, let’s prepare for if we do get to the Champions League’. The end of the season was going to be too soon to come back and we knew there was a three-week gap after that to give it more time. We didn’t do things as quick, took a bit of extra time before we went outside, just to let it heal a bit more, and since then most of things have been the same. 

"The ankle feels good now, it feels strong, it did before I went back [to playing] anyway.

"The tackle that made it get injured again probably would have injured it even if it was 100 per cent.

"For me, it's three games, the game on Saturday and then the England games, I’m ready and fully fit for. Again, in the off season, [I'll try] to really kind of work on rehab and strengthen it as much as possible.

“For me, the most risk of it is when you’re shooting and your landing foot when you’re coming down from a shot, defenders are sliding in or keepers are coming out so that’s when you’re most susceptible to it.

"Talking to the physios and talking to people about it, the last one especially, the tackle, if that’s any of the players that happens to, as I slipped and the tackle comes in at the same time, most players are getting injured there anyway. It’s not like I’m just running and rolling. In that case I’d feel like I’d need to do something about it. So far, every time I’ve come back I’ve felt strong. Hopefully I can be a bit more lucky and it won’t happen again.”