Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven looked close to tears after suffering an injury against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup. The 23-year-old was selected to start the match but saw his involvement brought to an end inside the opening 20 minutes.
Van de Ven was clearly in some pain after going down under the challenge of Savinho and required treatment on the pitch. He eventually managed to climb back to his feet but was moving gingerly while clutching his left hamstring.
It quickly became apparent that he would be unable to continue, forcing Tottenham into an early change. Van de Ven looked distraught as he limped straight down the tunnel, with the Dutchman almost in tears and being consoled by his team-mates.
Alan Smith, the ex-Arsenal striker, was on commentary duties for Sky Sports and said: “That partnership with [Cristian] Romero is the bedrock of the team. If he’s not going to be available, that will be a blow.”
Meanwhile, former Everton midfielder Leon Osman was covering the match on BBC Radio 5 Live and insisted that Ange Postecoglou made the right decision by replacing Van de Ven as quickly as possible.
“You don’t take any chances with hamstrings,” said Osman. “They can’t get better, they can only get worse. If you’re looking at this Spurs team at the moment, Micky van de Ven is arguably the one player Ange will not want to lose.”
It remains to be seen if Van de Ven will be sidelined for any length of time after his early exit against City. The defender has suffered a number of injuries since joining Tottenham from Wolfsburg at the start of last season.
Postecoglou will certainly be hoping for Van de Ven to make a speedy recovery, with the Aussie hailing him as a ‘special footballer’ after excelling in Tottenham‘s big win over Everton earlier this season.
“Outstanding, he’s a pretty special footballer.” said Postecoglou. “Last year when we had that back four up and running, we were a pretty compelling team, but we also know we can’t just keep putting them out there.
“With Romero, Micky and Destiny [Udogie], they’re not at peak fitness at the moment and they all sort of missed pre-season. So we knew this two or three weeks, we saw it last week about the 60-minute mark, they really started to fatigue and we’ve just got to be really careful with them.
“If we can get through the international break, then once the midweek games start, we can start rotating a little bit and, you know, because we need them at the peak of their performance because when they’re like that, they’re outstanding footballers.”
MORE TO FOLLOW
We’ll be bringing you the very latest updates, pictures, and video on this breaking news story.
Stay up to date with all the big headlines, pictures, analysis, opinion and video on the stories that matter to you.
Follow us on Twitter @DExpress_Sport – the official Daily Express & Express.co.uk Twitter account – providing real news in real-time.
We’re also on Facebook @DailyExpressSport – offering your must-see news, features, videos, and pictures throughout the day to like, comment, and share from the Daily Express, Sunday Express, and Express.co.uk.
Content Source: www.express.co.uk