Erik Lamela expected to miss remainder of Tottenham's season as club considers surgery for Argentine
The midfielder continues to suffer from a persistent hip injury and the longer his recovery takes, the stronger the case becomes for an operation
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Erik Lamela is not expecting to play again this season as Tottenham decide whether or not he still needs surgery on his persistent hip injury.
The Argentinean midfielder is being assessed every day, and he saw specialists again on Tuesday to try to solve this difficult problem. Tottenham have been hoping for months that Lamela would not need surgery but the longer his recovery takes, the stronger the case becomes for an operation.
There is little prospect now of Lamela playing again this season, with or without surgery, with Spurs’ last Premier League game on 21 May less than two months away.
This summer Lamela will have two years left remaining on his Spurs contract. He signed a four year deal, with two option years, back in 2013, taking his contract up to 2019. Talks over a new deal, and a decision about his future, have been put on hold while Lamela tries to regain fitness.
This has been a very difficult season for Lamela who, through a combination of unfortunate circumstances, has been unable to build on his impressive performances last season. Last December he had to return to Argentina after his brother was involved in a serious domestic accident, an incident which badly affected the player.
Lamela needed a change of scene in January which was why he was allowed to return to Rome for rehabilitation, with doctors he knew from his time at AS Roma. After a scan on 20 January suggested that Lamela would not need surgery, he returned to Spurs to recover. But two months on he has not been able to return to full training pain-free which is why surgery is an increasingly likely solution.
Earlier this month Pochettino said that he was in the dark as to when Lamela would return to the first team. “I can’t say one, two or three weeks, or one month or maybe next season, because I don’t know,” Pochettino said. “My position is too difficult. We are assessing him every day. Sometimes he is involved from the beginning in the warm-up with the team, sometimes he feels pain, and we change the plan. It is day by day.”
Danny Rose, Spurs’ first choice left-back who has been injured for almost two months, is close to a return to full training. Rose injured his knee playing against Sunderland on 31 January and early scans did suggest that he would be back by early March. Recovery has taken longer than first hoped but he is pencilled in to return to training soon, and could be back in the team later in April.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments