Thomas Frank says Tottenham are not putting a timeframe on how long Dejan Kulusevski will be out, but admits his injury is “a longer one”.
Kulusevski has been out since undergoing knee surgery in May, with Ange Postecoglou stating then that the Swede would be on the sidelines for “at least a few months”.
As expected, Kulusevski has therefore played no part in pre-season and Thomas Frank's only update up to this point was to confirm the 25-year-old will be unavailable for “a long time”.
Reports emerged on Thursday that Kulusevski could be out until 2026 and at his press conference ahead of Saturday’s trip to Manchester City, Frank said: “No Kulusevski, he's out. That's a longer one, I don't want to put a timeframe on it.”
Kulusevski's lengthy absence leaves Frank with a further headache as he attempts to find solutions to a gap in the squad at No10.
James Maddison will miss the majority of the season after suffering a serious knee injury and it means the Spurs boss is without two of his most creative players for at least the next four months.
It draws further attention to the club's actions in the transfer window so far.
Spurs were unable to wrap up a deal for Morgan Gibbs-White earlier in the summer, before moving their focus to Eberechi Eze.
They were in pole position to sign the Crystal Palace star and believed they had reached an agreement this week, only for Arsenal to swoop at the last minute and hijack the deal.
Frank has confirmed Destiny Udogie remains sidelined for the Manchester City game, but the left-back is closing in on a return. Yves Bissouma remains out.
“Destiny is better,” Frank said.
“He's trained with the team twice, full trainings, and also other trainings. Just too short to be involved for City. We want him to train tomorrow and have another good week next week as well, but he's in a good place. Looks very positive about him.
“Biss will miss this game as well.”
