'I'm ready to go': Harry Kane declares availability for Champions League final after returning to full Tottenham training

Harry Kane has declared himself "ready to go" for the Champions League final after a delighted Mauricio Pochettino welcomed him back to full training with the Tottenham squad.

The Spurs manager dropped his biggest hint yet that Kane will start against Liverpool, saying he is “so so positive” about his star striker's progress since he rejoined the players on Friday.

Kane, who suffered ankle ligament damage in the first leg of the quarter-final with Manchester City, will fly out with the squad on Wednesday and may replace Lucas Moura, whose hat-trick against Ajax secured Tottenham's progress to the biggest match in their history.

"I feel good," said Kane, shrugging off suggestions that he is developing any long-term problems with his ankles following a series of periods on the sidelines. "I’m back with the team. I did a lot of work on my own to get me into a good place to go back with the team. Since I’ve been with them, I’ve been full training, doing everything. I’m at a place now where I’m ready to go for any game but again, it’s down to the manager."

At the club's media day ahead of the final at Atletico Madrid's 63,500 capacity Wanda Metropolitan, Pochettino added that the striker's current progress was "very positive". "We have one week ahead to see how he is progressing," said the Argentine, who offered similarly upbeat bulletins on injured trio Harry Winks, Jan Vertonghen and Davinson Sanchez. "It’s so important that he feels well and he’s very positive. We’ll see what happens. I cannot say if he’ll be 100 per cent fit or starting, or on the bench or out." Kane said the his efforts to get fit had been helped enormously by the long gap between the end of the Premier League season and Saturday's final.

"Having the three-week gap after the end of the season definitely helped. From when it happened, I could put a plan in place to be ready for this game. We took our time with it. We’ve had longer than we had for the other ankle injuries. It’s worked out well. So I slowly took my time and now I’m in a good place."

Kane is confident that he will feature against Liverpool and then for England, who face Holland in the semi-final of the Uefa Nations League in Portugal. Gareth Southgate called him recently to wish him luck. "I guess he’ll have a few happy players and a few unhappy players when we meet up with the England squad," Kane said. "We’ve always said when we meet up with England, it’s into England mode."

Kane said it been "so hard watching as a fan" while he was on the sideline "because you've got no control".

"The first, the Man City game, I was watching at home with one of my friends and my dad and the emotions of that game were just crazy. We were so up and down. When Raheem scored, one of my mates just left the room. Then all of a sudden we had to call him back. It was just crazy. Of course for the Ajax game I was there in the stands surrounded by Ajax fans. I was in the directors bit."

With seconds remaining of the match - before Moura's tie-winning third goal - he signalled to Davinson Sanchez that they should walk down to be with the players.

"All of a sudden we scored and we jumped down, sprinted down the tunnel to be there when the game was over. Amazing experience. It was just amazing to be there watching from the outside as normally you are involved and watching things as it happens. To be watching from the outside was amazing."

After the Nations League finals, Kane will return to a hard summer of strength work on the ankle.

"In those four weeks it's for me to do a lot of rehab, continue the process and not just switch off," he said. "When you look at a lot of the injuries, a lot of them have been contact, tackles. I've been unfortunate but of course when something happens four or five times you always look to see if there are any improvements can I make. That will be my goal over the off-season: of course to carry on being fit and to strengthen the ankle as much as possible."

In the wake of Spurs remarkable Champions League progress, Pochettino's future has again been repeatedly been drawn into question. Most recently he has been linked with Juventus, who parted company with coach Massimiliano Allegri. Pochettino's current contract expires in 2023, following the five-year deal he signed last summer. Today, however, he refused against to be drawn on his plans beyond Saturday.

"Today no one is more important than the game that we have ahead, Tottenham deserve that we are all 100 per cent focused on the game. We can make history, we can provide our fans the best happiness in football," he said.

He said his Tottenham project had been a "massive achievement". "I think when you look back all that transformation from the club, I think it (mentality) was one of the areas to attack and improve," he said of his era in charge. "When you look back the amazing improvement of the club, from facilities and the mentality and the results to be here in the final. It is a massive achievement for the club."

Before kick off, all 23 players will appear in the team photo on the pitch because, an idea he first suggested during his time playing in in the Copa del Rey as captain of Espanyol.

"Maybe one player from the bench can help us win the Champions League," he said. "Maybe the most important player is sitting in the beginning. That is why I told in the past when I was a player we played the final of Copa del Rey against Zaragoza. I was one of the captains of the team. I was always to put the idea for this situation in finals to put the 23 or 24 before the game with the picture.

"The players want to start, there will be 11 players, but maybe one from the bench is more important. The players care a lot. It would be a very good idea for Saturday for Tottenham to have the possibility before the game to take a picture of the 23. If they win they will be super heroes, not only the 11."