Giovani Lo Celso is expected to be out of action for Tottenham until the end of October, and many fans have taken to Twitter to express their disgruntlement at the news.
Spurs made the announcement via their official website on Tuesday.
The 23-year-old has been forced to pull out of the Argentine national squad and return to England early with a hip issue, and at the moment, the prognosis isn’t great.
While there is little in the way of detail on what the injury might actually be, other than a hip complaint, the fact that he is expected to be out for the best part of two months isn’t exactly a positive sign.
Not only that, but having failed to make a Premier League start so far this season, amassing a total of just 44 minutes in English football so far, this will feel like an extraordinarily bad piece of misfortune that really sets back Lo Celso’s development at his new club.
Here are some of the best tweets from supporters.
https://twitter.com/SONNY_SZN/status/1171432282025938944?s=20
https://twitter.com/LDNSpurs/status/1171433534533197825?s=20
Typical spurs no luck with injuries hope he comes back soon fit ready
— Marc Butcher (@marcb3381) September 10, 2019
Lo Celso’s absence will be frustrating for two key reasons.
The first, and most obvious, is that the playmaker will, evidently, not be available for Mauricio Pochettino.
Given how much Spurs spent on him, and how impressive he was last season, averaging two shots, 0.8 key passes, and two successful dribbles per game in La Liga, plus 2.3 shots, 1.6 key passes, and 1.7 successful dribbles per match in the Europa League, as per Whoscored, not having him around will be a real blow.
He hasn’t hit top form in England yet by any stretch, but Pochettino has been slowly weening him into the side, and the hope will have been that given a little more time and patience, he could start to be a major influencer for the club.
https://twitter.com/MelliniLouis/status/1171433054239223826?s=20
https://twitter.com/AnthonyCOYS/status/1171431646832156683?s=20
Secondly, Lo Celso’s absence will almost certainly mean that Pochettino has to call on Christian Eriksen.
Obviously, that is no terrible thing. Even in a slow start to the season that has seen him benched regularly, the Dane has managed 2.3 shots and two key passes per game, as per Whoscored.
But it is clear that all is not well between Eriksen and the club, and if Pochettino has been omitting him where possible, there must be a reason for that.
The signing of Lo Celso gave a pretty big hint that the manager was preparing for life without the 27-year-old, but those plans will be a lot harder to enact if Pochettino is forced to play him every week.
Omg, really guys..
— Dominik Praczyk (@domipraczyk14) September 10, 2019
he can have my hip if he needs it x
— Christopher? (@ChrisWrighteous) September 10, 2019