Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino has revealed Erik Lamela has returned to his former club, Roma, in a bid to finally put an end to his injury nightmare.
Lamela, 24, hasn’t featured for Tottenham since coming on as a substitute during their EFL Cup defeat to Liverpool on 25 October before picking up a hip injury in training.
Tottenham were not concerned by the injury at first but it has since become a nightmare for Lamela, who was also given time off from football to return to Argentina in December to deal with a family problem.
The Argentina international is currently the only player unavailable to Pochettino and the Tottenham boss has revealed the club have given their blessing for the winger to return to his former club in order to receive treatment, which they hope will put an end to his near three-month absence.
“Pamela has gone to Roma; he has strong links there,” The Guardian quote Pochettino as saying ahead of their FA Cup third round clash with Aston Villa on Sunday. “He believes and we believe that it’s important to change a little bit - and in his mind. He asked to finish his recovery time there and the club, us, the staff believe that that situation is right.
“It’s always difficult for the player who spends a lot of time [out] - more time than he believes and we believe. With the energy of the team - sometimes, he’s frustrated that he cannot be involved and toady, it’s only him that is out of the group.
“He has a special link with a physio in Rome. And I say thank you to Roma for opening the door to him and trying to recover the player. Our staff are there with him, too.”
Lamela joined Tottenham from Roma in a deal worth £25.8m in 2013 but it wasn’t until when Pochettino arrived in May 2014 that supporters saw the best from the Argentine. Since then he has come to embody everything about the way Spurs play under Pochettino and his loss has been a blow over the past few months.
In the last three Premier League campaigns only four players have committed more fouls than Lamela (129).
For more stats on Erik Lamela, click here to visit his WhoScored player page
