The latest Spurs injury news and expected return dates - including an update on Jan Paul van Hecke.
Tottenham Hotspur will have hoped to get through the extended international break without any fresh injury concerns as they seek to put an end to their early-season struggles – but their luck doesn’t seem to have turned just yet, with fresh fitness problems set to blight their preparations for their coming Premier League fixture against Manchester United.
Key defender Jan Paul van Hecke suffered an injury while away with the Netherlands and could end up being one of at least six first-team players who may miss the crucial game at Old Trafford, with Pedro Porro another big name who remains a doubt after withdrawing from Spain’s squad due to a hamstring problem.
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With the injuries steadily piling up again, we’ve collected all of the latest Spurs injury news below, along with the stricken players’ expected return dates when available.
How long will Van Hecke be out for?
Centre-back Jan Paul van Hecke has become the latest Spurs player to suffer a worrying injury, although there are still some doubts regarding the severity of the foot injury he seems to have sustained during the Netherlands’ Nations League game against Serbia.
Van Hecke played through pain to complete the 90 minutes in Belgrade, but puled out of the next training session just seven minutes in. The decision has since been taken to send him back to North London, ruling him out of his national teams’ two remaining matches.
No specifics have been made public, but the fact that he was in a position to attempt training appears to rule out some of the worst-case scenarios such as a serious break. Spurs will conduct their own tests upon Van Hecke’s return, and no return date has yet been established. The 26-year-old is, however, a significant doubt for the Manchester United match until declared otherwise.
Porro and Kulusevski among players pushing for Spurs return
Full-back Pedro Porro, meanwhile, withdrew from Spain’s Nations League squad after sustaining a hamstring injury in the opening stages of Tottenham’s 3-2 defeat to Aston Villa shortly before the break.
The 27-year-old has since travelled to Spain to see a specialist, and reports suggest that he is expected to miss around a month of football – that would rule him out of the trip to Old Trafford, and make him a doubt for the game against Coventry City which follows that match.
There is better news, at least, for those waiting for Dejan Kulusevski to return from his long absence. The Swede suffered a minor setback in training shortly before the international break but is believed to have shaken that off and was recently filmed playing basketball and moving well.
A return date has still not been set for Kulusevski, with head coach Roberto De Zerbi telling reporters that they were still taking his recovery “day by day.” After 17 months on the sidelines, however, his return does appear to be imminent.
Three more long-term injury victims won’t be available to face Manchester United: Summer signing Mykhaylo Mudryk (ankle) is expected to be sidelined until late October, young winger Wilson Odobert (ACL) is believed to be targeting a November/December comeback, and Xavi Simons (also ACL) is not expected to be available until well into the new year, with late February an optimistic target for the Dutchman.