Tottenham have something of an injury crisis on their hands. Particularly in midfield.
After Hugo Lloris was confirmed to be out for six to eight weeks last week, Yves Bissouma was then seen in a protective boot. A statement on the club website confirmed that the former Brighton man had suffered an ankle injury. The statement read: "We can confirm that Yves Bissouma is to undergo surgery on Friday to repair a stress fracture to his left ankle. A timeframe for the midfielder’s return to training will be determined after surgery. He will begin rehabilitation with our medical staff as soon as possible."
Things then went from bad to worse on Saturday when Rodrigo Bentancur went down injured after winning a tackle in the middle of the park against Leicester City. And the injury was as bad as feared, with the Uruguayan rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament, ruling him out for the rest of the season.
READ MORE: Conte suffers new Tottenham injury blow with Ryan Sessegnon as well as Rodrigo Bentancur problem
Bentancur has been an integral part of Antonio Conte's two-man Tottenham midfield and will be a huge loss. And without Bissouma to replace him in the starting lineup, Conte has problems, with many fans declaring that it is "season over".
Those problems will only be heightened on Tuesday, when Spurs return to Champions League action against AC Milan in the San Siro, with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg suspended.
That leaves young duo Oliver Skipp and Pape Matar Sarr as the midfield pairing, unless Conte asks Eric Dier to return to his former central midfield berth for the clash against the Italians.
Hojbjerg will only have to sit out this one match, but thoughts will immediately turn to the players Spurs have out on loan and whether or not they can be recalled. Harry Winks and Tanguy Ndombele are both on loan in Italy, while Giovani Lo Celso is also on loan in Spain. All three could slot into the Spurs midfield.
So what are the rules on loan recalls? Well, Spurs do not have loan recalls on any, but could make a deal with their loan clubs to bring them back to England.
That will not happen though, because of Premier League rules. Clubs named their new 25-man squad once the transfer window closed and while Spurs could sign a free agent player, or bring a loan player back, they cannot register new players in their squad now it has been named. So, if they were to come to an agreement with Sampdoria over Winks or Napoli over Ndombele, neither could be named in the squad moving forward.
Things are different when it becomes an emergency situation, but with Hojbjerg, Skipp and Sarr available, Spurs are not at that stage yet.
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