Although Tottenham Hotspur striker Dominic Solanke has appeared in three games this season, it feels like the England international has been out for the entire year with a nagging foot injury, given those three appearances were for a few minutes here and there off the bench.
On a team that has struggled to score goals and is in the bottom half of the Premier League, Solanke being a total non factor has been one of many huge disappointments for a Spurs team that was already ravaged by injury coming into the 2025/26 campaign - what has become a common theme for arguably the unluckiest franchise in England.
Tottenham have gotten some decent performances out of loan signing Randal Kolo Muani, but half the reason why the PSG product gets so much praise is that his all around game looks brilliant in comparison to whatever on earth Richarlison is doing with the ball at his feet.
Dominic Solanke has the playing style Tottenham crave
Solanke's all around game is the best of all three of them and the reason why Tottenham spent a record 65 million pounds to sign him in 2024 from Bournemouth. While Solanke was not worth that kind of money in his first season and clearly has not been worth that money in his second season, he was an asset for Spurs in 2024/25 and played a vital role in winning the Europa League title.
So Tottenham Hotspur obviously want Big Dom back as soon as possible, but injury updates have been scarce. It looks like Solanke legitimately will not be back with Tottenham until at least February, based on how slow he has been to recover from surgery around the Fall, and, based on a new update from Tottenham manager Thomas Frank, it could take longer than that.
Because as Frank explained to reporters ahead of the Bournemouth game, via Football.London's Alasdair Gold, even when Dominic Solanke returns from his injury, it will still take a lot more time for him to be in game shape and ready to contribute at a meaningful level.
Frank said of his star striker, "Today you could see in training he's nice and composed on the ball. In the small sided game, he looked a bit more rusty which is understandable after six months out. So when he's back in the hopefully near future, it will take time. Very few players come straight back in after six months out and hit the ground running."
The good news is that Solanke is already practicing and moving around with the ball. And, well, the bad news is that he is "rusty" and will need more time to return. At least Frank is using phrases like "near future", but it may not be until the spring when we see Solanke playing his best football for Tottenham again.