Ange Postecoglou has revealed that Son Heung-min will play no part in Tottenham's Europa League semi-final first leg encounter against Bodo/Glimt. The Spurs captain has been suffering with a foot injury of late and last played for the team in the home draw against Eintracht Frankfurt in early April.
As a result, Son has missed out on the Premier League games against Wolves, Nottingham Forest and Liverpool, as well as the brilliant 1-0 win in Frankfurt that booked Spurs a place in the final four of the Europa League. Heading into the semi-final showdown there have been big questions over Son's potential participation in the game.
Speaking on Sunday after the 5-1 hammering at Liverpool, Postecoglou stated that the South Korean international would be "touch and go" for Thursday night. On Wednesday morning, Son was not present for Tottenham training with the rest of the Spurs squad at their Hotspur Way base.
football.london were in attendance for the first 15 minutes of the session and the experienced forward appeared to be the only player missing apart from long-term absentee Radu Dragusin. Previewing the Bodo/Glimt semi-final, Postecoglou provided clarity on Son's injury status ahead of such a pivotal match in the team's season.
He said: "Son won't feature tomorrow night. He's still separate from the group and hopefully we can get him back soon."
When asked about the fitness of his players, he added: "I think we're in a good place. Looking at the output of players we've got some good minutes into players who needed it and managed the others.
"Players like Romero and Van de Ven have missed so much of the season, it's not just about getting back but how you manage when they come back. Dom played 60 minutes, Madders 45. They're all in a good place physically."
Postecoglou will be coming up against familiar opponents in Bodo/Glimt having faced them during his time as Celtic boss. The Scottish side crashed out 5-1 on aggregate back in 2022 but he will be hoping for a different outcome come Thursday evening.
"Same manager, similar style of play," said the Australian. "When we played them with Celtic, our season had got off to a slow start but by then we were playing good football.
"The atmosphere at Celtic Park is incredible and they had just beat Roma, they won't be fazed by anything that comes tomorrow. The away game will be tricky as well, you're playing on an artificial surface in different conditions."