Thomas Frank has been hit with another injury blow after Tottenham striker Richarlison was ruled out for seven weeks.
The Brazilian was forced off just half an hour into Saturday’s 2-1 defeat by Aston Villa in the FA Cup, the fourth loss in seven for Frank’s side.
And the Spurs boss has revealed that Richarlison could miss the next 10 matches, starting with this weekend’s visit of West Ham and including next month’s North London derby. He joins fellow forward players James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski and Mohammed Kudus on the sidelines.
There was some good news for Frank this week with the £35million arrival of England midfielder Conor Gallagher from Atletico Madrid, and Spurs remain in the market for an attacking player.
‘We need to deal with what we have but, of course, Villa brought a little bit more experience and quality on the pitch than we were able to do there (in attack),’ said Frank.
‘We are in the market to see if we can improve the squad, but it needs to be something improves us short and long term. It needs to be that decision. It can’t only be for the next four months. We need to think bigger picture as well. But of course, we know that we are a few offensive players down in that aspect.’
Meanwhile, Spurs have confirmed the arrival of former Ajax boss John Heitinga as Frank’s new assistant. The head coach says he was part of the process to bring in the 42-year-old.
‘It was a process we did together,’ he said. ‘Of course I was a big part of it. I think he was a standout candidate with everything he’s experienced. A top playing career, that’s one thing, but also I like how he then did after that in terms of his experience in the academy of Ajax. So he walked the hard way. He’s also been trying to stand out there where there’s a bit more noise and wind sometimes. That gave him a perfect profile. I’d met him now a few times before, and all the character references we took, just a top guy, top integrity, top football person.’
