Spurs confirm no concussion for Vertonghen; will miss Bournemouth match

Further news continues to trickle out about Jan Vertonghen after his horrific-looking head-to-head clash with Toby Alderweired in Tuesday’s Champions League semifinal match against Ajax. Now, according to David Hytner in the Guardian, Vertoghen is set to miss Tottenham’s Premier League match at Bournemouth this weekend, and is questionable for the second leg against Ajax next Wednesday.

The Guardian writes that Spurs are treating Vertonghen with an abundance of caution, even though he passed all of the FA’s mandated concussion protocols at the time and has not shown evidence of concussion symptoms in the days after the incident. Vertonghen has already undergone a brain scan and will be seeing a neurologist to help rule out any further issues. He is also being monitored by the club in the event that new symptoms develop in the coming days.

This is obviously the correct decision for the club to make regarding Vertonghen’s safety, as head injuries are complex things and symptoms don’t obviously materialize immediately. The good news for Spurs is that Vertonghen’s absence from the lineup is perhaps the most easily mitigated in the entire team — Davinson Sanchez can easily slot into his absence, as can Juan Foyth. That’s not to minimize Vertonghen’s quality or ability, just to say that Spurs have plenty of options to replace him against Bournemouth.

I certainly hope he’s available and fit to play in Amsterdam next week. More important, however, is knowing that he’s fully recovered and not at risk of any further complications.

UPDATE: Tottenham released another statement on their website stating that after independent review, a neurologist has concluded that Vertonghen did NOT suffer a concussion on the field on Tuesday. Excepts from that statement are below.

Following a thorough review over the past 48 hours by our medical staff as well as by an independent neurologist with special interest in sport-related concussion today, it has been concluded that Jan Vertonghen did not suffer a concussion during Tuesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg against Ajax...

The specialist has recommended that the player undertakes a brief period of rehabilitation before returning to training.