Ange Postecoglou reveals drastic measures to solve Micky van de Ven's hamstring issues as Tottenham's injury crisis finally begins to ease

Ange Postecoglou has revealed that Micky van de Ven’s continued absence has included Tottenham seeking outside help to understand the stresses of his extreme speed on his hamstring muscles.

Van de Ven has not completed 90 minutes since October, when he came off in a Carabao Cup tie against Manchester City.

He suffered a recurrence on his return against Chelsea in December and played 45 minutes against Elfsborg on January 30 and has not appeared since.

‘It is just him understanding his body,’ said Postecoglou. ‘You look to the experts in that space and there are people looking at it in different ways, because he is an elite athlete, but he is also at the extremities of speed and with those athletes you look at how they perform at the optimum level without putting their body at risk.

‘He is doing some different things and working with some different people.

‘We’ve had a couple of people externally have a look at him and give him and our staff some guidance and information. It’s not so much about the injury as about the mechanics of him and making sure his body is better equipped to handle the kind of athlete he is.

The centre back has already suffered four significant hamstring injuries since joining in 2023

Spurs’ injury woes are finally easing, with six players set to return to action in the next week

‘He is still a very young man in terms of footballing experience, and his career. What you want is Micky to play 10 years at the best possible level, this gives us the opportunity to address what we can while in the middle of the season to get him to the best possible level he can get to.’

Van de Ven, 23, has been besieged by hamstring injuries since he arrived from Wolfsburg in the summer of 2023. He missed more than two months of his first season at Spurs.

He is training regularly and Postecoglou expects him back soon but says a little extra caution at this point will be a benefit in the long term.

‘He was frustrated, but I had a good chat to him,’ said the Spurs boss. ‘I guess he just wanted to keep going but I said to him he’s still got a 10-year career ahead of him and once he’s well into his career and flying, this period will seem insignificant, an extra two or three weeks.

‘He’s a big part of this football club, not just now but for the future as well. It’s in our interests, you’ve always got to protect your assets and he’s a major asset to this football club. 

‘His career is much more important than one or two weeks of doing some extra work.’

Guglielmo Vicario, James Maddison and Destiny Udogie are all fit to return and ease the Spurs injury crisis against Manchester United on Sunday, with Brennan Johnson, Timo Werner and Wilson Odobert all in contention to face Ipswich a week later.

Van de Ven, Cristian Romero and Dominic Solanke – three crucial players to the way Tottenham want to play – will all be a little longer.