Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou will be frustrated as he confirms Alejo Veliz faces ‘a couple of months’ out
Tottenham just can’t seem to catch a break on the injury front after Ange Postecoglou confirmed yet another setback, this time regarding striker Alejo Veliz.
Not only does every Spurs player appear to be getting injured at this moment in time, but the majority of them seem to be long-term or serious complications.
Micky van de Ven, James Maddison and Rodrigo Bentancur are just three examples of first-team stars who have spent months, rather than weeks, on the sidelines this season.
And now 20-year-old forward Veliz can be added to that ever-growing list of absentees.
Having come on late in the 3-1 home win against Bournemouth on New Year’s Eve, the youngster appeared to injure his knee and left the pitch in tears, and the stadium in a brace.
Spurs boss Postecoglou has now confirmed via the club’s official X platform (4 January) that Veliz will be out of action for at least “a couple of months.”
While it is a devastating blow for the Australian amid the current selection crisis he faces, it is arguably an even bigger blow for the player himself, who appeared to have worked his way into the 58-year-old’s plans in recent weeks.
Veliz scored his first senior goal for the club in the 4-2 defeat against Brighton at the Amex Stadium on Thursday 28 December, in what was a very positive overall cameo performance.
In addition to his goal, he offered his team plenty in the way of his defensive commitment, as he won 100 per cent of his duels, one on the ground and one in the air (Sofascore).
On the ball he was impressive, completing the one dribble he attempted, and he saw a shot blocked late on which had it gone in, would have marked a rather wonderful goal.
As a cross came into the box, Veliz was alert and made a smart run off the shoulder of his marker to get to the ball first.
His first touch took him around the defender and was weighted perfectly for the striker to get his shot at goal.
He got himself in a position to shoot, but his shot was blocked by Lewis Dunk in the Brighton six-yard box to prevent the Argentinian from a potential brace from the bench.
Having appeared for a total of just 19 minutes across the first 18 Premier League games of the season, Veliz played 28 minutes in his last two, which represented his growing role in the Tottenham squad.
With Son Heung-min away at the Asia Cup with South Korea, the youngster would have likely been in line for a lot more minutes in the coming weeks, emphasising just how cruel this setback truly is.
Tottenham find themselves light in the goalscoring department without top scorer Son, who already has 12 league goals this season, and Veliz’s track record proved he could have certainly offered a helping hand.
As per fbref, he was in the top six per cent of his positional peers in the Primera Division last year in terms of goals scored (0.56 per 90), and the 97th percentile for the number of shots he had on target (1.36 per 90).
Nonetheless, he now must focus on what lies ahead, which is recovery and rehabilitation, rather than what could have been, which was a real opportunity to break into the first-team picture in north London.
In other Tottenham news, Fabio Paratici has been linked with an involvement in an imminent Tottenham arrival.