Get ready, everybody. Jan Vertonghen’s close to a return. Tottenham Hotspur’s Belgian center back (no, not that one, the other one) has been out recovering from ankle ligament damage ever since Spurs’ 4-0 over West Brom on January 14. Now, a month later, he’s finally back to training with the first team, as he confirmed on Instagram today.
I don’t think anyone’s expecting Jan to be match fit and ready in time for Thursday’s Europa League match at Gent in Belgium, but this is a great time for him to do some recuperation and fitness training. More importantly, there’s an off chance that Jan might be able to get some actual game time either in this weekend’s FA Cup match against Fulham or, more likely, next Thursday’s return match against Gent at White Hart Lane Wembley Stadium.
We’ve talked a lot about Spurs’ struggles without Jan and the tactical shift back to a 4-2-3-1 over the past month. Hopefully his imminent return will result in a shift back to the tactics that made Spurs virtually unplayable for the whole of December.
Update: Apparently it’s not just me that thinks so! Pochettino just gave comments to the media in Belgium that suggest that Jan is recovering ahead of schedule and could be in line to start this Sunday against Fulham! All the raised-hands emoji!
Mauricio on team news: "@JanVertonghen is very well and maybe Sunday he'll be ready to make the starting XI or be on the bench." #COYS pic.twitter.com/Lkz8vp30eF
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) February 15, 2017