Harry Kane has wished his former manager, Pochettino, luck at Chelsea
Harry Kane, the captain of Tottenham Hotspur, expressed his well wishes to his former coach Mauricio Pochettino, who was recently appointed as the manager of Chelsea, a rival team based in London.
Pochettino led Tottenham to the final of the Champions League in 2019 and transformed them into a team that could compete in the Premier League, achieving top-four finishes for four consecutive seasons. However, he was dismissed from his position in 2019.
“Mauricio was an amazing manager for me. Great person, great, great coach. Helped me a lot to get to where I am now. So I’m really appreciative of him,”Kane told Reuter.
This week, the captain of England traveled to New York to reveal his investment in OxeFit, a fitness-tech startup that uses artificial intelligence. He has become a new partner with the company, alongside ice hockey legend Wayne Gretzky.
Pochettino has signed a two-year contract with Chelsea, with the possibility of extending for another year. He is taking over after a disappointing season for the club, where they finished 12th in the Premier League, their worst performance since 1994.
“Everyone has their career, everyone has their future. So all I can say is I wish him all the best,” said Kane. “I hope he does well – just obviously not as well as us.”
Harry Kane on how AI can help prevent injuries
Kane thinks that artificial intelligence (AI) could play a significant role in preventing injuries in soccer. He expressed disappointment that several top players will not be participating in the upcoming women’s World Cup, including former captain Leah Williamson and 2021/22 women’s player of the year Beth Mead.
Despite winning the women’s European Championship on home soil last year, England will be missing key players in the tournament taking place in Australia and New Zealand in July. Other strong teams like Olympic champions Canada and defending champions the United States will also have depleted squads.
“It’s been a real shame to see some of the women players go down with those injuries and big injuries as well,” Kane told Reuters.
Kane expressed his belief in the effectiveness of real-time data in preventing unnecessary injuries during his announcement of investing in OxeFit on Thursday.
“Injury prevention is something that is the most important thing to me,” said Kane, who joins retired ice hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky among the latest investors in OxeFit.
“It (will) only get more impressive and more with AI will get better. And hopefully in the long run we’ll start kind of seeing less and less injuries.”
Kane highlighted the capability of OxeFit technology to provide immediate feedback on an athlete’s tendency to favor one side over the other.
“You’ve got a little issue on your left side or your right side and you need to even out because when you’re playing game after game, all you’re doing is just putting more impact on maybe the weaker side,” he said.
The need for more extensive studies on the frequency of injuries in women’s football has been emphasized. Kane, who played a significant role in England’s advancement to the quarter-finals of the World Cup in the previous year, believes that the women’s team in his country has immense potential to advance the sport.
The chair of the FA, Debbie Hewitt, has recently proposed the possibility of bidding to host the Women’s World Cup in 2031.
“(We were) lucky enough we had the European Championship last year and I was able to go there, watch the final at Wembley, watch them win. And I saw how much it meant to the country – the country was so behind them, thousands and thousands of fans watching,” Kane said.
“The European Championship is great, but the World Cup is the pinnacle of football.”
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