Yesterday we got news through a Swedish media source that Tottenham Hotspur midfielder and Sweden international Lucas Bergvall was set for an extended spell on the sidelines after injuring his ankle in a collision
with Dortmund’s Emre Can in Tuesday’s Champions League win. The Swedish source suggested that Bergvall would miss the upcoming Sweden World Cup playoff match in March, and put a timeline of 2-3 months out injured.
A Swedish source close to the natural team usually has the goods when it comes to international players and injurues, and indeed we got confirmation of the injury from The Athletic’s David Ornstein this morning It’s not good… but maybe not as bad as we were led to believe. Ornstein identified the injury as a high ankle sprain, and said the club was continuing to assess Bergvall before making any firm statements on how long he might be out. But he did say that Bergvall was hoping to be fit by the March 26 World Cup playoff semifinal against Ukraine. The injury is unrelated to any other injury he might have been carrying.
So here’s where we enter into the murky realm of speculation. We’ve had players with high ankle sprains before, and some quick consulting tells me the average time out for an injury of that nature is typically 6-8 weeks on the sidelines. Not great, but also not 2-3 months. Severity of the injury will be a consideration, but at this point there don’t seem to be any indications that Lucas needs surgery, so until that changes it feels like we should take the under on his recovery time until we get more info.
Either way, Spurs will be without his services for the next number of matches, which sucks, and leaves a non-academy player stable of Archie Gray, Conor Gallagher, Yves Bissouma, Xavi Simons, and (possibly) Joao Palhinha going forward in Tottenham’s central midfield. Wheeee!
