Tanguy Ndombele has shared a short video clip which appears to show his injured Tottenham Hotspur team-mate Giovani Lo Celso doing outdoor ball work.
The 24-year-old Argentina international has had a campaign for Tottenham blighted with injury, with the start of the season fragmented by his recovery from a muscle injury that was a carry over from the previous campaign.
Then just as he began to get a run of games under his belt, mostly from the bench in the Premier League, scoring against Manchester City and providing an assist against Liverpool, he suffered a serious hamstring injury early in the second half against Leicester City on December 12.
Lo Celso's absence for the past two months has somewhat coincided with Tottenham falling off the pace in the Premier League, with Jose Mourinho unable to use the Argentine either in his starting line-up or as a game-changing option from the bench.
The Spurs boss has repeatedly been asked about the midfielder's recovery in recent weeks and has had to provide disappointing updates for the media and fans.
"I don't know. Not close," he said on Lo Celso last week. "I think [Sergio] Reguilon next week against Wolfsberger home match.
"Not Gio. No, no, no. Gio is still a few weeks away and of course we need him because he gives us lots of qualities and options and we've missed him for a long time."
Ndombele gave Spurs fans some hope on Monday with a post on his Instagram story.
The little clip showed Lo Celso coming back in from the training pitches at Hotspur Way, holding a football, indicating that the midfielder may have progressed to doing outdoor ball work in his recovery process.
Ndombele captioned the little video of the Argentine waving at him with the words "El Crakito" and two happy face emojis with stars in their eyes, as shown below in a screenshot.
Tottenham fans will be hoping that with Mourinho having been cautious over Reguilon's return with the Spanish left-back coming back early for the West Ham match that Lo Celso could be back sooner than expected.
With five defeats in their past six Premier League matches, the Argentine's drive and creativity has been missed but Mourinho and the medical staff will be keen to ensure he is fully recovered.
Lo Celso has had struggles with injuries ever since a hip injury on international duty a couple of months after joining Spurs and he and the club will be desperate to put an end to them.
