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New Tottenham injury scare as two players return to training and a third who won't play

Ange Postecoglou kicks a football during the training session at Hotspur Way ahead of Tottenham's Europa League match at Hoffenheim
-Credit:Reach Publishing Services Limited


Tottenham took to their Hotspur Way training pitches on Wednesday ahead of their flight to Germany to face Hoffenheim in the Europa League.

Ange Postecoglou's threadbare squad were put through their paces at the Enfield training complex and there were some returning faces, some missing ones and plenty of young players on display.

The Spurs players began with warm-up stretches in front of the watching media before some drills and then short passing. They then went into an 11-a-side training game where they passed the ball out from the back slowly while the attackers were pressing and then shot at goal.

READ MORE: Every word Postecoglou said on when Romero will return, if Spurs won't sign anybody and Sarr injury

READ MORE: Son out, Richarlison and Moore start - The Tottenham team Postecoglou must pick vs Hoffenheim

Here are the things spotted in Spurs' training session today which was open to reporters and the cameras for the first 15 minutes or so.

Returning faces

There were a few returning faces to training, including the very welcome sight of Cristian Romero back among the squad. While this game might possibly come too soon for the Argentine, Postecoglou will be delighted to have the World Cup-winning centre-back closing in on a comeback.

The Argentine was the last one to emerge out on the pitch for this session and gave the head coach a big high five as he saw him.

Midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur was involved in training following his time in the concussion protocol while Dane Scarlett was also involved following his return from Oxford United after his loan spell was ended this month due to a lack of game time.

The 20-year-old striker is unlikely to play for Spurs though as he is expected to be loaned out again and he would not be able to play for a third club this season if he turns out for Tottenham at any point in the coming weeks.

Goalkeeper Fraser Forster was also out there continuing his return to training with the team following his illness.

Those missing

All of the injured players were out of the session, in terms of Guglielmo Vicario, Micky van de Ven, Destiny Udogie, Yves Bissouma, Brennan Johnson, Wilson Odobert, Dominic Solanke and Timo Werner.

There were also those cannot play in tomorrow night's game in German but were involved. Antonin Kinsky, Djed Spence. Sergio Reguilon and Yang Min-hyeok are not registered for the competition due to Tottenham's Europa League squad issues but were spotted at certain points during the morning.

Some were left wondering if Dejan Kulusevski was going to join the session as he seemed to stay in the gym a little while longer as others got their boots on, but he did end up joining the team as they walked out to train.

There was also another potential absentee who started the session in the shape of a certain Senegal international.

Sarr scare

It could be a ridiculous 14 players unavailable for this Europa League clash if one potential injury from the session becomes a realised one. Pape Matar Sarr pulled up at one point feeling some kind of discomfort and had a word with Postecoglou.

The young midfielder carried on in front of the cameras but it's unlikely he would have been pushed on throughout the rest of the full session.

Postecoglou will deliver an update on Sarr at his press conference in Germany and you can find live updates from that in our blog right here.

Young players

Postecoglou is going to have to bring a lot of young players to Hoffenheim with the senior squad simply because there are so few first team players available.

Among those who boarded the flight to Germany were 16-year-old centre-back Malachi Hardy, U21s defender Dante Cassanova, 17-year-old midfielder Callum Olusesi and 19-year-old winger Damola Ajayi.

Teenagers Will Lankshear and Mikey Moore, who have been involved in the first team this season and especially in this competition, were also part of the training group.

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