'He will not be available' - International manager drops strong hint on Tottenham injury timeline
Tottenham have been given an indication of how long one of their star players will be out for.
Tottenham fans have been handed an update of sorts on the fitness of one of their best attackers. It has been a strong start to the season for Spurs, who pushed PSG all the way in the UEFA Super Cup before making relatively easy work of Burnley in their Premier League opener.
Thomas Frank will be delighted with how his side of starter given the squad is not deemed ready in terms of its construction at this stage. Tottenham still have work to do, with Heung-min Son needing to be replaced, while the North London club also need another striker as well as depth elsewhere.
One player Tottenham could do with getting back is winger Dejan Kulusevski, who has been struggling with a knee injury. Asked in the summer when Kulusevski could be back, Frank said “I don’t like to put a timeline on it. Put it this way, he’s not ready for the first game of the season.”
He then added in early August: “Kulusevski is out for a long time, which I spoke about before.”
Around the time of the first address, Kulusevski told FotbollSkanalen: “It’s good. I’m already ahead of schedule, I can start walking now, so that’s nice.” When asked if he would be back for Sweden’s games with Slovenia and Kosovo on September 5 and 8, he added: “It’s been a few months since I’ve been watching and being on the sidelines. It’s early, but we’ll see.”
It has been something of a mystery when the forward will be back in contention, but it seems it won’t be for another month, or the best part of, with Sweden manager Jon Dahl Tomasson telling Fotbollskanalen: “I have had a lot of contact with Kulu; he will not be available.” He added: “He is injured and is trying to get back. He is doing well, but it is too early.”
That would suggest that Kulusevski will be out until at least mid-September, and Frank will have to make do in the meantime. The Dane does have options between new signing Mohammed Kudus and the existing players, which include Mathys Tel, Brennan Johnson and others. But it’s no secret Tottenham want to add further depth there after the departure of Son, and Manchester City star Savinho has been linked, as has Crystal Palace star Eberechi Eze, but Eze will be seen as the number 10.
When Kulusevski does return, Spurs will have plenty of competition out wide.
Spurs sign new deal
In the meantime, Tottenham have managed to tie club captain Cristian Romero down to a new contract. Speaking about the deal, Frank said: “Of course, extremely happy. He's a very important player for us, just been named captain so that speaks for itself.
"For me, he's one of the best centre-backs in the Premier League and, to have him locked down long-term, every fan, me, staff, should be extremely happy. It also shows he's committed to the journey we're on and the future and the bits we're building together. Very happy."
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