New Tottenham injury blow as Jan Paul van Hecke withdraws from Netherlands squad
Tottenham are being left to sweat over Jan Paul van Hecke's fitness ahead of returning to Premier League action next weekend.
Although the 26-year-old has endured a poor start to life at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium since his summer move from Brighton, he remains a key player in Roberto De Zerbi's plans.
Van Hecke, who scored in the 3-2 defeat to Aston Villa in the final game before the international break, has played every minute of every Premier League fixture for Spurs since his arrival.
He's also played 180 minutes across the Netherlands' two matches over the course of the last week.
Van Hecke helped the Dutch to a 1-1 draw with Germany in the Nations League, before a 2-1 win away in Serbia on Sunday.
However, despite winning that game, Van Hecke has come away from it with an issue that's bound to affect Spurs.
Jan Paul van Hecke's injury woe
It's now been reported by Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf that Van Hecke has been forced to withdraw from the Netherlands national squad.
It is understood that the Spurs defender won't be travelling to Greece, who they are due to play on Thursday night in their third fixture of this international break.
De Telegraaf reports that Van Hecke is "suffering too much from a foot injury" that was sustained against Serbia at the weekend.
He's the sixth player to drop out of the Dutch squad during this round of international fixtures and there won't be a replacement called up to Xavi's squad.
Van Hecke did reportedly try to train on Wednesday morning but "had to drop out quickly".
What does this mean for Tottenham?
It's never too clear when a player withdraws from a national squad if the injury is genuine or not.
In this case, it does seem like Van Hecke has had a setback that's caused his withdrawal from the Netherlands squad, especially given the detail that he at least tried to train on Wednesday.
The severity of it, however, is a different thing and it's unclear yet whether or not the Dutch international's foot injury will rule him out of Spurs' trip to Old Trafford to play Manchester United on 10 October.
Should that be the case, De Zerbi will have to call on either Marcos Senesi or Tosin Adarabioyo to replace Van Hecke in his starting line-up.
And that might not be a bad thing.
Van Hecke's form has been worrying - but potential replacement looks promising
The Dutch media labelled Van Hecke as being "sloppy" against Serbia at the weekend
Adarabioyo, however, has been praised for his one and only starting appearance for Spurs since joining from Chelsea on deadline day in September.
Sofascore stats from that game, which ended in a 3-1 defeat to Liverpool in the Carabao Cup, show that Adarabioyo made 10 defensive contributions.
He won all three tackles he attempted, make one interception, completed four clearances and blocked two shots.
The ex-Chelsea man won three of his four ground duels and reigned superior in the air, winning seven out of nine aerial duels.
He wasn't dribbled past one and also completed 88 per cent of his passes.
Van Hecke's injury is a blow - every injury to a first-team player is - but there could be a silver lining for De Zerbi here.