Erik Lamela 'close' to return from hip injury as Tottenham grant forward permission to continue recovery with AS Roma

Tom Collomosse|Sam Long6 January 2017

Tottenham midfielder Erik Lamela is "close" to returning to full fitness after Mauricio Pochettino confirmed the forward had travelled to Italy in an attempt to recover from a hip injury.

Lamela has not featured for Spurs since October's EFL Cup defeat to Liverpool after picking up the problem in training, and the Argentina international asked Tottenham to make the trip and permission was granted.

A member of Tottenham’s medical team is thought to have accompanied him. Lamela sustained the injury in training preparing for the Champions League tie with Bayer Leverkusen in November.

Lamela was also granted leave to return to Argentina in December because of a family illness. Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino expects the player to be back in “a few weeks”.

“He has gone to Italy,” confirmed Pochettino. “They need to change the atmosphere a little bit and he has strong links in Rome. We believe it’s important to change his mindset a bit and he asked to finish his recovery there.

“The club and staff believe this was the right situation. We hope that after this period he will come back again and be available to start training with the team.

“It is always difficult for players who spend a lot of time out of the team. They see the energy of the team and sometimes he is frustrated he cannot be involved. Today he is the only one out of the group, and he has a special link with the physios and doctors at Roma.

“We thank Roma for opening the door to him and taking back the player. We hope that in a few weeks he will maybe be available again and be involved with the training sessions with the rest of the group.”

Spurs host Aston Vila in the FA Cup third round on Sunday afternoon aiming to build on their impressive victory over Chelsea.

Pochettino is expected to make a flurry of changes to his starting line up with a number of fringe players set to be given a chance to shine against Steve Bruce's Championship outfit.

London Football! You can follow Tottenham's FA Cup clash with Aston Villa live from White Hart Lane with Standard Sport this weekend. Click here to find out how.

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