Bat Country: Lamela wants to go back to Roma

Tottenham Hotspur winger Erik Lamela is not having the season we all expected him to have. After having a great campaign last season, the Argentine International was expected to build upon that success and be a major asset in Tottenham’s challenge for not only the top four, but for the Premier League title. The season started out well enough for Lamela, but that all came to a halt back in October when he suffered a hip injury that has kept him sidelined since.

While the rehabilitation for the injury has gone slowly and is taking longer than expected, a decision was made to allow Lamela to fly to Italy and continue his physio with the staff at AS Roma, believing that the change in atmosphere to sunnier skies would help. Lamela stated that it was tough to see the team play week in and week out and not be out there, and that’s completely understandable.

Somehow, Squawka has decided that, despite all the evidence of the club supporting Lamela, his return to Rome means he wants to just go back to Serie A and play for AS Roma.

Lamela has been based with Roma for the last few weeks after requesting to return to the Italian capital to help his recovery from a hip injury that has kept him out of action since October.

The 24-year-old is understood to feel unsettled and homesick in London and would welcome a return to Roma in the summer. The Giallorossi are expected to sell at least one key player in the summer and would be interested in re-signing Lamela, who scored 15 goals in 30 Serie A matches in his second and final season before leaving the Stadio Olimpico.

Basicaly, Squawka is acknowledging the reason for returning to Roma and is pulling this rumor from thin air. In regards to the “unsettled and homesick” comment, there’s been no indication that there is any truth to this, which is par for the course with the standard Bat Country article, and this falls firmly into that category. We have no quotes from the player, coach, or club that would even suggest that Spurs are selling back to the club they purchased Lamela from and that he simply needed the change of scenery.

In regards to the injury, Pochettino gave us an update a couple days ago on Spurs’ official site:

Meanwhile, Mauricio had news on Erik Lamela, who underwent a scan on his hip injury on Friday.

“The result was the same so now it’s about how he adapts his programme," said Mauricio. "Now he’ll start to run. It’s positive, now it’s about building his fitness and to try to challenge the pain he feels in his hip, but I think this will be positive.”

So there seems to be some good news on the front even with this bat country article from Squawka. Here’s hoping we get the Argentine back to 100% and in the squad sooner rather than later as he would be welcome back in the attacking band for the second half of the season.

As for this rumor? Take it away, Mr. Depp: