Tottenham have provided a major injury update on Micky van de Ven before the Premier League clash at home to Fulham. The Netherlands international has been absent since the Carabao Cup win over Manchester City in late October because of a hamstring issue.
Since joining in the summer of 2023, Van de Ven has been hit by three separate hamstring injuries that has thus far seen him miss 15 games and counting. Defensive issued have hampered Ange Postecoglou significantly since his arrival with Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie also missing lots of action.
Guglielmo Vicario is the latest fitness blow at the back with the Spurs goalkeeper expected to miss the next two months because of a fractured ankle. Returns for Van de Ven and Romero, however, will come much sooner with the latter in contention to feature against Fulham on Sunday.
"Romero is closer, he's probably the closest but again probably unlikely, but I'm not ruling him out," the Tottenham boss admitted on Friday in a press conference. "He's got to get through a few things today and then we've got a session tomorrow.
Speaking to Spurs TV about Van de Ven specifically, he added: “Yeah, Micky is still on course, working harder, training again. It is sort of day by day with him. We just gotta again make sure he ticks all the boxes before he gets reintegrated in.”
Judging by Postecoglou's comments alongside Van de Ven's injury history, it appears Spurs will be carefully managing his return to the fold. With that being said, on Friday afternoon, Tottenham uploaded a montage of Van de Ven which showed parts of his rehabilitation.
In the 64-second clip, the defender is shown working in the gym before heading out onto the grass at Hotspur Way. Though it was an individual session, it was undertaken at a very high pace which suggests he is pushing towards a return to team training and following that, the starting XI.
With the busy Christmas period on the horizon, Postecoglou will be hoping to have Van de Ven available soon but that being the case for Sunday's London derby against Fulham is extremely unlikely, despite the progression he has seemingly made.
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