Tottenham Hotspur defender Micky van de Ven went down precautionary on Sunday against Aston Villa.
It was almost the perfect afternoon at Villa Park for the Lilywhites until Micky van de Ven went down through injury.
However, there may be some optimism over the hamstring concerns surrounding the Dutch centre-back.
Micky van de Ven injury news
For the second time this season, the 22-year-old went down clutching his hamstring and was forced off prematurely.
At half-time Radu Dragusin was seen going through an intense warm-up, so perhaps there was an indication Van de Ven was feeling something.
The Dutch defender was able to get up and walk himself off the pitch and down the tunnel without any assistance.
And speaking on the Gold & Guest Talk Tottenham podcast, journalist Alasdair Gold spoke about Dragusin’s half-time warm-up potentially being a sign. He said: “So maybe that suggests that Van de Ven had mentioned that he had somebody could feel a little bit of tightness perhaps I don’t know. And then that looked, hopefully, to me, and it seems to be backed up by the quotes afterwards, that he went down more precautionary. I mean it’s certainly was nothing like the screams of agony he was in [during] the Chelsea game. This one was more he sat down to signal over as if to say, ‘no, no, no we stopp now this isn’t, you know we can’t make worse’.”
“He [Postecoglou] actually said in his club interview, ‘no news yet, but it doesn’t look significant’ as well. So that’s good.”
Radu Dragusin time
Having joined in the January window, the Romanian centre-back has had to bide his time with opportunities at a premium.
Prior to the weekend, the 22-year-old had only made three appearances and all were cameo displays off the bench.
But Ange Postecoglou called on him at Villa Park with the majority of the second half still to play.
And he certainly slotted in well for the injured Van de Ven. It was a seamless transition for Dragusin and a really encouraging display for Spurs fans to see.
In the past, there has been major concerns over Tottenham squad depth – especially at centre-back.
But the showing from Dragusin on the weekend showed exactly why Spurs need strength in depth with Champions League football their target.
Unfortunately, it was expected that it would take an injury to Van de Ven or Cristian Romero to see Dragusin take to the pitch.
Spurs will be hoping Van de Ven’s injury isn’t anything too serious, but there will be no need to rush him back now they have a quality replacement on offer.
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