Tottenham: Vertonghen Out Two Months

There were plenty of hints that Tottenham centre-back Jan Vertonghen’s injury sustained on this past weekend was bad — and now we know just how bad it really is.

The Guardian reported on Tuesday that the Belgian international is set to miss at least two months as he recovers from a tear in his ankle ligament. The injury occurred as the player chased the ball out to touch in Saturday’s 4-0 Tottenham win over West Brom.

But for Vertonghen’s injury, that win was something marvelous. It sustained Tottenham’s Premier League winning streak to six games and set them up well for this weekend’s visit to Manchester City.

Mauricio Pochettino might struggle to see the bright side here though. One of his best defenders will miss not only the City match but also the match again Liverpool in February. Though he might not have featured, Vertonghen will be unavailable for the Europa League knockout round matches against Gent.

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Even prior to this more official diagnosis, Pochettino was adamantly against testing the waters in the transfer market for a Vertonghen replacement. The Argentine believes — probably correctly — that the tools to make up for the 29-year-old’s absence are already within the club’s ranks.

When Vertonghen went down injured for a similar time period last January, it was new boy Kevin Wimmer who stepped up and proved a capable understudy. There’s a chance that the Austrian does so again here.

Or it could be that Tottenham’s shifted tactics — the 3-4-3 formation is now in vogue as opposed to last year’s more conventional 4-2-3-1 — demand a different type of player than Wimmer. As we discussed yesterday, it could be that Ben Davies is the primary benefactor of Vertonghen’s injury. It was the nominal full-back who came into the game after Vertonghen limped off on Saturday, after all.

Even if Pochettino has plenty of options for Vertonghen, his absence puts some strain on the depth chart. With Toby Alderweireld and Eric Dier already first-choice options in Tottenham’s back three, the only other centre-back with experience is Wimmer. Davies is a fine choice as well, but using him as a starter means that Danny Rose is suddenly without cover as well.

Pochettino will fret about more injuries as a result. Any one of the aforementioned players go down and Tottenham find themselves in a very difficult situation.

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Academy graduate Cameron Carter-Vickers might see his role increase regardless of circumstances. Though the 19-year-old only has experience in the EFL and FA Cups, his chances of getting his first Premier League minutes have never been higher. That might not be assurance enough when Tottenham are conceivably in the title hunt.

Oddly enough, Tottenham encountered the same threadbare situation with Vertonghen went down last season. Then, like now, Pochettino declined to buy before the end of the January transfer window. It worked out well for him then, but one wonders if tempting fate twice is worth it.