Tottenham: Vertonghen latest; Spurs a family affair for Pochettino; midfielder leaves; bids rejected for defender

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The news emerging from White Hart Lane on Wednesday morning will be that of a bitter blow for Tottenham fans and for manager Mauricio Pochettino as defender Jan Vertonghen looks set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines with injury.

Scans revealed the full extent of the injury to be ankle ligament damage, sustained by the Belgian after rolling his ankle during Spurs’ win over West Brom. He was immediately rushed off to be assessed by Tottenham’s medical staff, and this is the news that everyone at the club will have feared.

The Belgian has been in a protective boot since the injury, and no time-frame has yet been put on when the Belgian may return to action.

Elsewhere, there will be happier news for the manager, with the Daily Mail reporting that Spurs is set to be kept very much within the family as his 15-year-old son Maurizio, has received the offer of a scholarship with the North Londoners.

Positional preference it seems is one thing that doesn’t run in the family though. 15-year-old Maurizio is a winger who has featured for the club’s Under 16 team this season, whilst Pochettino Sr. was famously an international centre-half for Argentina.

Maurizio is one of three Pochettinos at the club, with the manager’s eldest son Sebastiano, 21, also working with Tottenham as a sports scientist after completing his degree at Southampton Solent University.

Both of his sons were born in Barcelona during Pochettino’s playing days with Espanyol, and Thursday will mark a four-year period since his arrival in England to manage Southampton. Fast-forward to the present day, and his Tottenham team are second in the Premier League, and Pochettino and family are planting roots in North London, with the boss under contract at White Hart Lane until 2021.

The report goes on to quote Pochettino in an interview with Argentinian paper La Nación, saying: ‘My wife points out to me what I’ve achieved here in just four years’.

‘People have a certain affection for me and the people who love me see it as greater recognition than I received in Argentina or Spain. I have a Spanish passport but for the Spaniards I am an Argentine.

And then in Argentina they say the Tottenham of Erik Lamela, not of Pochettino. There (in Argentina), they want to know if he will ever return to take control of Newell’s Old Boys, his first club, or the national team’.

On the topic of one day managing the national team of his homeland, Pochettino said: ‘At my age I like to be involved in the day-to-day. I do not have short-term aspirations to coach Argentina’

‘Maybe yes in the long run, because my two dreams in football are to coach Newell’s (Old Boys) and the national team.’

Elsewhere, youngster Tom Carroll, a graduate of the Tottenham Hotspur academy, has left the club.

The London Evening Standard reported on Tuesday evening that the midfielder, who has found himself on the periphery at White Hart Lane this season since falling down the pecking order, has sealed a permanent move to Premier League rivals Swansea City.

The 24-year-old signed a new deal at White Hart Lane as recently as September 2016, after 19 appearances last season, but this campaign he has found game-time much harder to come by given the fierce competition for places, coupled with Harry Winks’ successful integration into the first-team.

Carroll is familiar with his new club having impressed on-loan with the South Wales outfit during the 2014/15 season and has become their third signing of the January transfer window following Luciano Narsingh’s move from Eredivisie giants PSV Eindhoven, and left-back Martin Olsson. He has signed a three-and-a-half year deal at the Liberty Stadium, and will be expected to challenge for a starting-place for Paul Clement’s side as they look to stave off relegation.

Finally, with Vertonghen set to be out for some time, it is likely that Austrian international Kevin Wimmer will be re-instated into Pochettino’s starting line-up. The club are yet to do any major transfer business themselves this month, but it has been revealed that the club has already turned down bids for stand-in defender Wimmer, according to the player’s agent, Mithat Halis.

In an interview with ESPN FC, Halis, an agent at the Stars & Friends management company that represents Wimmer, said: “Tottenham do not want to sell. All offers have been turned down and he is staying.”

The 24-year-old has played just 270 minutes of Premier League football for Spurs this season, with only seven starts, but in the light of Vertonghen’s injury, the centre-half- who cost Spurs £5.1million when he signed from Cologne in 2015- may have his chance to impress.

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino has been deploying three centre-backs of late, with Eric Dier, Toby Alderweireld and Vertonghen forming the regular defensive trio.

With just 14 goals conceded, Spurs continue to hold the best defensive record in the Premier League this season, with leaders Chelsea having shipped a goal more.

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