Pochettino states prognosis on Kane is still not determined

It’s been about a week since Harry Kane injured his ankle against Sunderland. While we thought we had a good idea as to what the extent of the damage was, it appears that’s not the case.

The Guardian are reporting that those preliminary reports about Kane would be out 6-8 weeks are a little premature. The article itself has some good information, but here’s the meat and potatoes of it:

“We don’t know when he will be back,” Pochettino said of Kane. “We need to assess every day. The ankle is still swollen so we need to wait. We will have another scan next week and then we can assess much better. We’ll know how long the recovery will be then.”

The manager was calm in his assessment of Kane’s situation and said the player was too. “We need to be positive, we cannot change the past,” Pochettino said. “Kane got an injury against Sunderland and we need to help him. We need to be positive about his recovery, but he is very positive about his recovery. He’s in a good mood and that’s very important. It’s important to have all the energy focused on being available as soon as possible.”

Obviously, we’re all concerned. Mauricio went on to talk about Vincent Janssen stepping in and what he expects from the new signing.

Kane’s expected replacement in the Spurs side is Vincent Janssen. A £17m summer signing from AZ Alkmaar, Janssen has so far struggled in front of goal for Spurs, but opened his account for the club in the midweek EFL Cup trouncing of Gillingham.

Pochettino believes that goal will give Janssen confidence but was also keen to deflect any pressure from the 22-year-old. “It’s always a team responsibility,” Pochettino said. “He needs to feel free to play, to help the team, to show his real skill. He needs only to play football.

“Yes it’s possible he’ll go [on a goalscoring run],” Pochettino went on. “He needs to feel confidence, to feel the net and it was good for him to score his first official goal. Now he has a great opportunity to start for the team.”

Now, before we all hit the panic button and start drowning our sorrows in whatever spirit of choice we all enjoy, let’s look at this logically.

Nothing has changed other than a report has shown to not be true. This does not mean automatically that he’s out for twice the amount of time we thought. All it means is that they still don’t know because his ankle is torn up and the swelling has to go down. I can tell you from personal experience that sprained ankles can take forever before getting a scan, and you generally go through two: One to see if you broke anything and another to see how badly you tore your ligaments.

If you’ve been lucky enough to never have sprained your ankle, the timetable for sprains depends on the grade of the tear. The American Association of Orthopedic Surgeons talks in depth about the grade of sprains and what the timetable can look like for a full return to physical activity. Obviously, I’m not a doctor, but having torn my ankle up plenty in the past, I’d be comfortable in saying that Harry suffered at least a Grade 2 and probably a Grade 3 sprain. That would put the timeline somewhere between 8-12 weeks for worst case scenario, and this is if he didn’t break anything.

The bottom line is this: We don’t know what the outlook is, but Spurs were prepared this time around with the signing of Janssen. Heung-Min Son will more than likely back up the Dutchman if necessary as he’s played striker in the past, though it’s been some time since the Korean International has done that.

The old saying goes “Next man up” when it comes to team sports, so that’s exactly what this is. It’s time for Janssen to show us what he can do as we wait for a full update on Harry Kane.