TOTTENHAM have been handed another huge injury blow after Cristian Romero was ruled out for up to five weeks.
The Spurs defender suffered a hamstring injury during the 2-1 win over Everton and was forced off at half-time.
Romero was then sent for a scan which confirmed the hamstring strain and the latest huge loss at the back for Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou.
The Aussie has already been without summer signing Micky van de Ven, who was sidelined with his own hamstring injury during the 4-1 defeat to Chelsea in November.
Van de Ven said recently he could be back within two weeks, though Postecoglou confirmed the game against Manchester United on January 14 was the earliest the Dutchman could return.
Postecoglou said: “It’s not so great with Romero.
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“He had a scan the other day. He’s got a hamstring strain.
“So we’re looking at probably four weeks, five weeks for him.”
Spurs have long been keen to add another central defender during the January window.
Romero and Van de Ven had formed a superb partnership but injury and suspension have exposed the lack of depth in defence within the squad.
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Spurs lost Romero to a three-match ban for his sending off in the Chelsea loss and Spurs were defeated in all three games.
The Argentine’s injury further shows the need for investment at the back, with Spurs targeting Nice’s Jean-Clair Todibo, though Postecoglou says it has not altered their plans.
He added: “No, it doesn’t change anything.
“Disappointing to lose him, for sure. We obviously missed him with the suspension and now, we’d just got him back and kind of steadied things up and obviously we have him missing again for quite a chunk of time.
“But it doesn’t change really… you can’t accelerate time. It’s still December. January 1 stays January 1 irrespective of our situation.
“The plans and the planning is still in the same shape.”
Spurs have been hard hit by injury this season. As well as losing Van de Ven and Romero, Postecoglou has been without James Maddison since that costly Chelsea defeat in October.
Ivan Perisic has been ruled out for the season with a knee injury, Rodrigo Bentancur suffered an ankle injury after making his return from an ACL injury and Manor Solomon has been sidelined with a knee injury.
There is at least good news for Van de Ven’s return, with the summer signing set to return to training in the next couple of weeks.
The former Wolfsburg defender gave an update on his return when attending the World Darts Championship recently.
Postecoglou said: “I wouldn’t be taking players’ views on their recovery process.
“He’s getting closer, we’ll see him some time in January.
“I don’t think Burnley but Manchester United on 14th I think potentially.
“I don’t look at comeback dates until I see them training with us and he’s not part of the group. He’s not due to be part of the group this week, we’ll see how he’s going by the end of the week.
“Once they start training with the group we’ll think about when they’ll be available.
“He’s at the tail end of it for sure so at some point – middle of January definitely we’d think he’d be available but how we use him then, after such a long absence, is going to depend on where we feel he’s at.”
The squad will be trimmed even further next month when captain Heung-min Son as well as Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr head off with their countries for the Asian Cup and Africa Cup of Nations.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
