Darren Bent admits he has questions over the fitness of Tottenham Hotspur defender Jan Vertonghen after claiming that the Belgian is “not up to scratch” yet after returning to the starting team.
Vertonghen was named alongside Toby Alderweireld for last weekend’s North London derby, the first time the pair have played alongside each other in the new campaign.
Tottenham ran out to a 2-0 lead over their rivals thanks to Christian Eriksen’s first-half strike and a penalty from Harry Kane but goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang drew them level as the points were shared.
And former Spurs striker Bent believes that part of the issue is that Vertonghen was not ready for the pace of such an intense game after failing to feature in any of Tottenham’s first three games of the season.
While the combination of Vertonghen and Alderweireld has been arguably the best centre-back pairing in the Premier League over the last few years, Bent admits Sunday’s game made him suspect something was wrong and he wondered if Vertonghen is dealing with an ongoing injury.
"He’s come into a high-profile game, frenetic pace," Bent said to Football Insider.
"When he’s fit and playing, him and Toby are the best in the Premier League as a centre back pairing, but he’s not up to scratch, not up to full fitness yet.
"It’s hard to come into a game when you haven’t played for so long. You just don’t know what’s going on.
"Is he injured, has he been injured? It’s so tough. There’s got to be something going on but for whatever we just don’t know why.
“I’m sure there’s a genuine reason.”
