When an international break starts, Spanish newspaper Marca list all the players from their favoured Real Madrid and worry which ones will return in no fit state to play for their club.
It was they who coined the term ‘FIFA-virus’ to describe a player returning from his national team injured, and it’s a worry shared by clubs worldwide.
Tottenham have endured their own share of FIFA-virus related woes in recent years, and they’ll be hoping for no more bad news during this break.
There’s no great worry over Vertonghen in Belgium, but there does seem to be some precaution around the player and his approach to training.
Tottenham may well have managed to get a little of a lighter load for Vertonghen during international duty, although negotiating such a scenario with Belgian football’s great and good is always a challenge.
