Alasdair Gold has said that Tottenham were always confident that Yves Bissouma would be back in action before the end of the season despite Antonio Conte suggesting the contrary.
Bissouma picked up an ankle injury earlier back in February and subsequently had surgery to fix the problem, with reports indicating at the time that the Mali international was expected to be out of action for around seven to eight weeks.
With the former Brighton man joining Rodrigo Bentancur on the treatment table, Spurs have been short of central midfield options over the last two months, with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Oliver Skipp playing nearly every game.
Following Tottenham’s 1-0 loss against AC Milan at the San Siro on February 15, Conte was quite pessimistic about Bissouma’s injury, hinting that like Bentancur, the former Brighton man could also be out of action for the rest of the season (Football London).
However, Gold has now suggested that the departed Spurs boss might have been ‘exaggerating’ the timeline for the midfielder’s return.
When asked about Bissouma’s fitness, the journalist has now said on a Q&A on Football.London: “I should stress that the hope within the club was always that Bissouma would be back before the end of the season so it may have just been that Conte was exaggerating or just fearful of him missing the remaining games.”
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One cannot overstate the impact that losing both Bentancur and Bissouma has had on the side, with the former in particular making the 3-4-3 system tick.
While Bissouma has certainly not set the world alight this season, the midfielder seemed to be coming to grips with his role just before his injury and his return will certainly be a boost to Stellini ahead of the final run-in.
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