James Maddison is working hard to ensure he can play a part in this season for Tottenham, and Thomas Frank has been discussing the likelihood of him getting minutes.
One of the most important seasons of the 28-year-old’s career was wrecked before it even started after the midfielder suffered an injury during pre-season.
Maddison suffered a brutal ACL injury during Tottenham’s clash with Newcastle in South Korea, which meant he required surgery.
On Friday, the Spurs head coach was asked about the midfielder’s recovery and whether he thought his vice captain would feature this campaign.
Thomas Frank is unsure of James Maddison’s injury timeframe
Thomas Frank has admitted he is unsure whether James Maddison will recover before the end of the season, but has not closed the door on his return.
The Tottenham Hotspur boss gave the short answer of ‘maybe’, but he will need to be assessed after the Christmas period to get a better understanding of a timeframe.
Speaking about whether Maddison could return during the 2025/26 campaign, Frank told the media: “This season? That I don’t know. The short answer would be maybe. I think he got the injury in July.
“I think we need to get past Christmas to see how quick he is. He’s doing normally, you say, around nine months as I understand it, without me being a doctor.”
Given Xavi Simons’ struggles at Tottenham, the North London club could really do with a player like Maddison, and also Dejan Kulusevski, who is also injured.
The 22-year-old will hope that Spurs’ derby clash against Chelsea will be the moment he can finally kick-start his career in North London.
Simons almost joined Chelsea last summer, but instead opted to join the Lilywhites after the West Londoners dithered over a move.
Tottenham’s plan for Dominic Solanke’s injury
Dominic Solanke is another player out injured right now, but he is expected to be back after the November international break.
Spurs need a new number nine, but that does not mean they will rush Solanke back into the line-up, and the plan is to take things gradually.
“You can never be 100 percent sure. I think it’s very unlikely that when he’s back for the first game that he will start. That would probably not be the right way to do it,” Frank added.
“I haven’t seen any player do that when they’ve been out for three or four months. So most likely when he’s back, he will come off the bench and then we’ll take from that.”