Tottenham Hotspur have been handed a deeply worrying update on Dominic Solanke’s injury situation, and a new timeline for his return has left many inside the club frustrated and uncertain about when their star striker will finally be available again.
What was first described as a minor issue has turned into one of the most confusing injury sagas the Premier League has seen this season, leaving supporters desperate for answers and Thomas Frank short of options up front during a crucial period of the campaign.
Solanke’s second year at the club was supposed to be the moment he truly exploded into life as a Tottenham player, but instead it has been dominated by a recurring ankle injury that never seems to settle.
The problem first emerged during pre-season, disrupting his early preparations, and what was expected to be a short setback has now stretched into more than four months without a single start.
The striker has played only three brief substitute cameos this entire season, totalling just 49 minutes, and he has not featured at all since his short appearance against Manchester City in August.
In late September, Frank assured supporters that Solanke’s ankle problem was nothing serious and explained that he needed a small procedure to tidy things up. Tottenham believed that would solve the issue.
The surgery took place in October and was considered routine, and the medical team were optimistic he would return fairly quickly. But as the weeks passed, it became clear that progress was slower than expected. Training updates hinted that he was “getting closer” and “only weeks away,” yet each time Solanke tried to push, something wasn’t quite right.
This dragged on long enough that Spurs were forced to use UEFA rules to temporarily remove Solanke from their Champions League squad and replace him with Mathys Tel, a summer signing who had originally missed out on the European list.
Frank later admitted that he would have selected Tel from the start had he known Solanke’s recovery would become so stretched out, and supporters have become increasingly concerned about the lack of clarity surrounding the striker’s true condition.
Nobody seems able to explain how a supposedly simple ankle procedure has turned into months of uncertainty, and Solanke himself refused to give a firm return date when he spoke to the media in November.
He admitted the situation has been incredibly difficult and said that even he underestimated how serious the injury was. He explained that at first he felt he would be back quickly, but once the extent of the problem became clear, he accepted the need for surgery and has been trying to build up fitness ever since.
He has stopped predicting when he will return because he has already told too many people that he was “almost there” when he clearly wasn’t.
His absence has heaped huge pressure on Randal Kolo Muani, who is on loan from PSG, and on Richarlison, who himself struggled with injuries last season.
Tel has shown flashes of promise, but he is still inexperienced, while some of the younger academy options are not yet ready to lead the line in major Premier League fixtures.
This is why many believe Spurs may need to enter the January transfer market for a new striker, especially with Frank recently confirming that Solanke “is not close to rejoining the squad.”
Although Frank denied that Solanke had suffered a setback and claimed that swapping him out for Tel in the Champions League squad was simply about using the opportunity available, the picture remains far from reassuring.
Tottenham insider Paul O’Keefe has now suggested that Solanke could be out until February, a grim update that paints a far more troubling picture than the club has publicly shared.
If that estimation proves correct, Solanke will miss a long list of crucial fixtures in both the Premier League and Europe. Tottenham face Liverpool, Sunderland, Aston Villa, West Ham, Borussia Dortmund, Eintracht Frankfurt, Manchester City and potentially Manchester United before he is expected to be fully fit again.
For a player who finished last season as Tottenham’s second-highest scorer with 16 goals in all competitions, his loss is enormous. Nine of those goals came in the Premier League, and he delivered important contributions in Europe, including a penalty in the quarter-final against Eintracht Frankfurt and the opening goal in the semi-final versus Bodo/Glimt during Spurs’ Europa League success.
His physical presence, smart movement and ability to link play have been badly missed this season. Without him, Tottenham have lacked a natural focal point, and too much responsibility has fallen on the shoulders of Kolo Muani and Richarlison.
Frank knows that to compete on multiple fronts after the new year, he needs Solanke back as soon as possible. But with the latest update suggesting he may be out longer than hoped, Spurs may have no choice but to look for temporary solutions in the transfer window, unless the striker’s condition improves sooner than expected.
For now, Tottenham can only wait, hope and prepare. The uncertainty continues, and the longer Solanke stays sidelined, the more complicated Thomas Frank’s season becomes.
