Yesterday, we learned through Swedish media that Tottenham Hotspur midfielder and Swedish international Lucas Bergvall will be on the sidelines for a long time after sustaining an ankle injury in a collision with Borussia Dortmund’s Emre Can during Tuesday’s Champions League match. Swedish sources revealed that Bergvall will miss Sweden’s upcoming World Cup play-offs in March and is expected to miss 2-3 months due to injury.
Swedish sources close to the Natural are usually in stock when it comes to international players and injuries, and indeed we got confirmation of the injury this morning from David Ornstein of The Athletic. It’s not great…but maybe not as bad as we think. Ornstein identified the injury as a high ankle sprain and said the club is continuing to evaluate Bergvall before making a firm statement on how long he might be out. But he did say Bergvall hoped to be fit before the World Cup play-off semifinals against Ukraine on March 26. This injury is not related to any other injuries he may have suffered.
So this is where we enter the murky realm of speculation. We’ve had players with high ankle sprains before, and some quick consultation tells me that an injury of this nature requires an average sideline of 6-8 weeks. Not great, but not 2-3 months either. The severity of the injury will be a consideration, but there doesn’t appear to be any indication at this time that Lucas will need surgery, so until that changes, it feels like we should be considering his recovery time until we get more information.
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Either way, Tottenham will be without his services for the next few games, which sucks, and leaves non-academy players like Archie Gray, Connor Gallagher, Yves Bissouma, Xavi Simons and (possibly) Joao Palinha in the center of Tottenham’s midfield. Ouch!
