Micky van de Ven returned against Elfsborg on January 30, but a cautious approach has been taken since.
Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven remain sidelined for Tottenham (John Walton/PA)open image in gallery
Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven remain sidelined for Tottenham (John Walton/PA) (PA Wire)
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Ange Postecoglou is hopeful Tottenham will have key duo Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven available for when the club resume their Europa League campaign next month.
Spurs were knocked out of two competitions in the space of 72 hours last week to leave the Europa League as their only chance of silverware this term.
Romero and Van de Ven last played together on December 8 with groin and hamstring issues respectively leaving Postecoglou without two of his best players for one of the busiest periods of the season.
Van de Ven played 45 minutes on his comeback against Elfsborg on January 30, but a cautious approach has been taken since and while he will be consigned to a watching front for Sunday’s visit of Manchester United, Postecoglou feels there is light at the end of the tunnel for him and Romero.
“They’re not training always with the team. They’re doing a lot of individual stuff which is more based around them getting back to the levels that they need,” Postecoglou revealed.
“To just paint a clearer picture, we’ve hardly trained for two-and-a-half months.
“We’ve literally just been walking around going through tactical stuff. For them to join in that, it serves no purpose because they get nothing out of it physically. Our (fit) guys have just been recovering.
“It’s just now, in the last three days, and the hope is that we can drop, now we’re training properly, Micky and Romero over the next couple of weeks to be part of our team training totally.
“Call it modified, call it what you want, but a lot of work they’re doing now is individual training,
“What I’m saying is they’re not bed-ridden, they’re not in sitting just getting treatment, they’re out there running. They’re doing significant training but it’s just not with the team always.”
Asked if they could be fit for the Europa League last-16 first leg on March 6, Postecoglou said: “Yeah, with a bit of, for want of a better word, momentum, in terms of them getting some good training work.
“I would certainly expect Micky and Cuti to be around the mark of that time.”
Postecoglou will be boosted for Sunday’s clash with Manchester United by the availability of first-choice goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, while James Maddison is fit again after a recent calf strain.
Destiny Udogie, Wilson Odobert and Brennan Johnson after muscle problems have also trained this week and could make the bench.
Radu Dragusin (knee), Timo Werner (hamstring), Richarlison (calf) and Dominic Solanke (knee) are still sidelined along with Romero and Van de Ven.
Van de Ven last completed 90 minutes on October 27 against Crystal Palace due to two separate hamstring issues either side of a comeback outing in a 4-3 loss to Chelsea in December.
While Postecoglou acknowledged Van de Ven was “frustrated” at being held back currently, he pointed out the benefits of taking a long-term view.
“He was frustrated but I had a good chat to him. I guess he just wanted to keep going but I said to him he’s still got a 10-year career ahead of him and once he’s well into his career and flying, this period will seem insignificant,” Postecoglou explained.
“His career is much more important than one or two weeks of doing some extra work.”