Tottenham Hotspur Injury News Roundup: Clinton N’Jie is Out for Two Months
Tottenham Hotspur will be without Clinton N’Jie for two months, or more. However Ryan Mason and Danny Rose are back with the squad and will be fit to play against Norwich City on Boxing Day.
The biggest injury news for Tottenham centers around Cameroon international, Clinton N’Jie, after he successfully underwent knee surgery. The 22-year-old forward will now be recovering for the next two months — three months tops.
RELATED: Spurs Injury News: N’Jie Out, Mason & Pritch Recovering, Dembélé Back
An initial thought for a recovery time was six weeks, which was a month and a half. It was never going to be the absolute answer, it was just a quick guess. The easy answer was of course was to say “it depends on the person and how fast they can recover” blah blah. But then that wouldn’t be saying much.
Another response was to wait for Mauricio Pochettino to give his verdict. Except, he’s not a doctor so he’s giving everyone information that he thinks could be Clinton N’Jie’s recovery time. Unless doctors actually told him that specifically.
“I don’t know but we will expect maybe two months or two and a half,” Pochettino said.
“You never know because every day it’s about how the knee responds but maybe two months or a little bit more.”
Besides, Pochettino tends to lets his players recover longer to get back to full fitness before playing again. That’s how he’s done things and that’s how he’ll continue to manage his players.
So what will happen now that Tottenham’s strikeforce has taken a hit for the next eight to ten weeks? Obviously one option is having Son Heung-min acting as the backup striker for Harry Kane.
Another solution is having Nacer Chadli playing as Kane’s backup. In fact this was an experiment earlier in the season, back in August. Before Spurs were able to sign both Clinton N’Jie and Son Heung-min.
If anything though, Son and Chadli will both split time as Kane’s security blanket during matches. This will mean that their time on the pitch will be drastically reduced to make sure they’re not overused, while Harry Kane continues to line up as the sole striker.
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It will only be a short-term fix while Tottenham waits for the January transfer window to open. And with plenty of players that Spurs are interested in, they have to figure out the best approach to handle such a delicate situation.
Sign an early-20s striker to challenge Harry Kane for the coveted number nine position? Look for a youth striker in his late teens (18, 19) for the future? How about a veteran in his prime or his 30s?
All of these questions must be taken into account because while N’Jie will be out for two to three months, it’s just that, two to three months. When he returns he might not have a spot on the squad unless there is someone who will be sold. Andros Townsend perhaps?
While this is the only major bad news there is still some good news out there.
Next: Tim Sherwood's Legacy at Spurs Two Years On
Back in the squad are Ryan Mason and Danny Rose. For Mason he has returned from an ankle/foot injury. With Rose back and fully recovered from his illness, he will resume the starting left-back spot against Norwich City.
Both players will be needed to help Tottenham maintain their position and continue their climb up the league table to catch Manchester City for third place. Eventually, if everything goes well, Spurs could reach Arsenal at second and finally Leicester City who are sitting in first.
Also as usual, Alex Pritchard remains sidelined. No new updates.