Thomas Frank will have to get used to receiving injury news at Tottenham and he got a positive update from one of his players to start his time at the club.
While being introduced to people around the club's Hotspur Way complex on Tuesday, the new Spurs head coach met midfielder James Maddison in the gym at the Enfield training ground. The England international missed the end of the season and the Europa League final after being forced off with a knee problem midway through the second half of the semi-final first leg win over Bodo/Glimt in May.
The 28-year-old, who managed 23 direct goal involvements in 45 matches last season, was initially expected to return during pre-season from the ligament injury.
The Tottenham vice-captain met Frank on Tuesday for the first time since the Dane was appointed to replace Ange Postecoglou and delivered his own update on how his recovery is going.
"Yeah [working hard]. Had a little break with the family. Had a nice check-up with the specialist yesterday," he said.
Frank then asked if everything was ok to which Maddison replied: "Yeah, yeah. It was good. Positive to be fair. All about schedule stuff."
Both Maddison and Radu Dragusin, also working in the gym, predictably referred to the new head coach as 'gaffer' on their initial meetings and the midfielder was mentioned by Frank in his first club interview when talking about his squad.
"I think it's a very talented squad. I think it's a very good squad. So yeah, very excited about starting working with them and, of course, you know, when you follow the Premier League, you see the other teams, of course I've seen Tottenham, I've seen some fantastic performances from the team over the last years, and I'm very excited about that," said the 51-year-old.
"I think there's big, big potential in it, but of course I'm looking from the outside, so I'm looking forward to get to know them, to be around them, to feel them, to understand them, to work with them on a training pitch, and that's where you really get the big understanding, and understand the relationships between players and how you can get the best out of them.
"Of course, I got an idea already, you know, my head is spinning, how can we play, who can I put them together and all that."
He added: "When I say talented, it's not only the young players, it's also some of the more experienced players. How can we get the best out of them. Let's say Dominic Solanke, a big fan of him, in terms of his abilities. I'm sure we'll make him score a lot of goals.
"How can we play with Bentancur, you know, Maddison, how can we get that, but of course the younger ones as well. I think it's all players that we need to develop and make perform on the highest level. But of course Bergvall, Archie Gray, Odobert, Udogie, all of them, I think have a high ceiling. There's others I haven't mentioned, it's the whole squad and I'm looking forward to it."