Tottenham Hotspur star ruled out of upcoming games, gamble hasn’t paid off

 

Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Moussa Dembele has been ruled out of Belgium’s next two World Cup qualifiers. Dembele sat out Roberto Martinez’s training session yesterday, and now the Belgian coach has confirmed the Tottenham star won’t play against Bosnia-Herzegovina or Gibraltar.

HLN have reported comments Martinez made to the Belgian media in his press conference today, with regards to Dembele’s fitness. The former Everton boss said despite their attempts to get Dembele fit, his ankle will not recover in time.

Martinez as a result expects the player to miss both games in the race to for qualification for Russia 2018.

“Moussa will not in recover in time. He must miss the two games,” said Martinez on the Tottenham player’s injury.

Despite Dembele’s injury, Belgium have plenty of cover in his position, and have also called up Anderlecht youngster Youri Tielemans given there’s a question mark over Radja Nainggolan. The AS Roma star will have a fitness test tomorrow to see if he will be ready for the Bosnia game.

There was some surprise that Belgium called Dembele up, given his current injury, and it looks like the gamble didn’t pay off. Tottenham may well be relieved.