Tottenham news: Expert salutes Antonio Conte for ordering overweight Harry Kane to ‘sort it out’
Harry Kane’s form has improved so dramatically in 2022 because Tottenham boss Antonio Conte demanded that he lose weight.
That is the view of medical expert Ben Dinnery, who runs the Premier Injuries site and has a background in medicine and data analysis.
Kane is now fourth in the race for the Premier League Golden Boot despite having scored just once in Spurs’ opening 14 games this season.
His upturn in form coincided with the appointment of Conte, who replaced Nuno Espirito Santo in November last year.
London World reported in December that the Italian manager had asked his squad to lose weight, with a particular focus on the England skipper.
And Dinnery claims that this decision was likely the turning point in the striker’s season.
“This is nothing new to Harry Kane in terms of questions arising because of his weight,” he told Football Insider’s Adam Williams.
“You can go back to 2014 and, by his own admission, he returned from holiday with a body fat percentage of 18 per cent, the highest in the squad. Pochettino wasn’t impressed.
“A lot of people chalked up his lack of form at the start of the season to the Man City move not working out. But maybe that was a bit of a smokescreen.
“We have seen him talk before about how he manages his weight and his in-season diet. He tailors his meals according to training load. He has a no-alcohol rule and doesn’t eat carbs before a match.
“Maybe he let that slip and wasn’t as strict as he normally would have been under Nuno Espirito Santo. When someone like Conte comes into the club, you focus, you work hard and you drop that weight.
“We always talk about marginal gains and you can eke out an extra percentage through this sort of weight loss.
“You happily make these sacrifices because look at the rewards once he’s sorted it out. He’s got 16 calendar goals in 2022 and they are on course for a Champions League spot.”
Barring a 15 goal swing, Spurs need only to avoid defeat against Norwich City on Sunday (22 May) to beat Arsenal to the final top-four spot.
Kane’s season tally across all competitions now stands at 26 goals and nine assists in 49 games.
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