Tottenham Hotspur defender Destiny Udogie has been ruled out for around a month after suffering a hamstring injury.
The Italy international pulled up in the second half of Spurs’ 2-0 defeat by Manchester United on Saturday and limped off the pitch. He was replaced by 19-year-old full-back Souza, who was making his debut after joining Spurs from Brazilian side Santos in January.
Udogie will be unavailable for Tottenham’s game against Newcastle United on Tuesday evening but Djed Spence should return after recovering from a calf injury which forced him to miss their last two fixtures.
Spence is capable of covering Udogie at left-back, although may be needed on the right, with Pedro Porro also currently sidelined.
“Unfortunately Destiny has a hamstring injury so he is out for the next four to five weeks,” head coach Thomas Frank said in his press conference on Monday.
This is the second time this season that Udogie has suffered a hamstring problem. He missed seven games across December and January before he was an unused substitute in a 2-1 defeat by West Ham United on January 17. The 23-year-old featured against Burnley and Manchester City before going down at Old Trafford.
He did not play in the first two games of the campaign due to a knee injury and has only started eight top-flight matches this season, making 13 appearances in total.
Frank said it was an “ongoing” and “long-term process” to improve Udogie’s robustness.
“It’s a combination of different things, gym work, recovery, training, managing, game load and all of that,” the Dane added.
Frank also said that Dejan Kulusevski is having a meeting with a consultant this week about his knee injury and he “doesn’t know” if the attacking midfielder will feature this season. Kulusevski has not played for Spurs since last May after undergoing surgery on his right patella.
Defender Kevin Danso is still “weeks away” from being available due to a foot injury.
James Maddison, Richarlison, Lucas Bergvall, Ben Davies, Mohammed Kudus and Rodrigo Bentancur are also out, while captain Cristian Romero will serve the first of a four-match suspension against Newcastle after being sent off in the first half of Saturday’s game.