Tottenham injury updates and return dates - Kulusevski, Kudus, Maddison, Bentancur and Vicario

The Tottenham treatment room remains full of talented players but some of them are coming to the end of their road to recovery

Tottenham Hotspur have a new head coach in Roberto De Zerbi and he will already be well aware of the club's penchant for injuries.

The Italian's predecessors Igor Tudor and Thomas Frank both had to deal with double figures in terms of injury absences in their final weeks in the job and De Zerbi arrives with 10 players having been injury doubts ahead of Spurs' next Premier League match against Sunderland.

Tottenham make the trip to the Stadium of Light on Sunday and the 46-year-old will be hoping for some change on the injury front if the club are to finally win a Premier League match in 2026.

So what's the latest with those in the Tottenham treatment room? Here's what we know about every one of De Zerbi's 10 injury doubts and potential return dates.

Mathys Tel

Tel had to come off in the defeat to Nottingham Forest with a problem in his thigh and hip area and subsequently withdrew from France U21 duty.

However, football.london reported the following week that the 20-year-old Frenchman was expected to be back in time to face Sunderland and lo and behold Tel could be spotted on the pitches of Hotspur Way with his team-mates in the recent images from De Zerbi's first session.

Return date: Sunderland on April 12

Pape Matar Sarr

The Senegal midfielder played in the 2-0 win against Peru but missed out on his country's 3-1 win over Gambia on Tuesday, and it was revealed ahead of the game that he had picked up an injury on international duty.

Local reports suggested the 23-year-old missed out on the game with a shoulder problem and Sarr has not been spotted yet in the training videos or photos from De Zerbi's first session.

If he is not back in training before then the new Spurs boss will likely deliver an update on the midfielder in his first press conference at the helm later this week.

Return date: Unknown

Guglielmo Vicario

Guglielmo Vicario played against Forest before undergoing hernia surgery the following day on a problem that has dogged him for months.

Spurs announced in the days before that the operation had been deliberately timed for the international break and the club's three week absence of fixtures in order to "have as minimal impact as possible". The club added that they hoped the Italian would be able to "return to action within the next month".

Vicario is a fast healer but he would need to be back in action on the training pitches very soon to be able to face Sunderland this weekend.

Return date: Perhaps Sunderland but Brighton on April 18 or Wolves on April 25 would seem more realistic

Mohammed Kudus

Kudus suffered a serious quad tendon injury in the draw against Sunderland at home back in January but Tudor had some positive news on the attacker before his departure.

"So we have this big three weeks after the game on Sunday. He will probably do some part of the things with the squad maybe 10 days [after the break]," the Croatian had told football.london. "I don’t know I’m not sure. We need to check but he is progressing very well. Already a little bit with the ball."

The 25-year-old had provided nine goal involvements in 24 Premier League and Champions League matches for Spurs before being run into the ground by Frank.

This big break will have given Kudus more time to get closer to a return after so long out. He was not in the background of the photos or footage from De Zerbi's first session so we'll have to find out from the new man when he will be involved.

Return date: Soon after this international break comes to a close

Yves Bissouma

Bissouma has been suffering from a muscle problem but that was the last update we had on the Mali international.

The 29-year-old had just started to get himself back into action at Tottenham with eight Premier League appearances in a row only to suffer the problem last month.

Bissouma shared images of himself alone in the dressing room at Hotspur Way during the international break so is still working his way back.

Return date: Unknown

James Maddison

Maddison could be seen standing on the touchline in the Forest defeat dishing out instructions to Djed Spence during the first half, desperate to be part of things again.

The 29-year-old midfielder uploaded a social media video showing his trip to Manchester for further ACL tests and exercises to help with the final stages of rehabilitation and then a YouTube video from around a month ago and his ball work back on the pitch with others on their way back from injury.

Tudor had previously shared good news on the player when football.london asked if Maddison could be back before the end of the season.

"Yes. Maddison is already doing interesting things as well with the ball. Sprinting as well. I saw him. He is positive. He's positive," he said.

Return date: Maddison will hope to return before the end of next month

Rodrigo Bentancur

Bentancur required surgery on a serious hamstring injury in January and Tudor mentioned both the Uruguayan and Maddison when speaking about Kudus to football.london.

"Rodrigo as well, Maddison as well. We hope the medical staff will make us some nice surprise in the next weeks which would be very important to have that," said the Spurs boss.

Last week Bentancur's personal fitness coach, Daniel Fernandez, provided a detailed update on his progress as he explained to Uruguayan radio 100% Deporte that the surgical wound had healed well and Bentancur's rehabilitation is currently around 15 days ahead of the original prognosis.

The midfielder has already returned to working on the grass after weeks spent in rehabilitation and strength training. Fernandez said that Bentancur would have returned to training by the end of March but would not be realistically available for first-team action until the end of this month if there are no setbacks.

Return date: This month

Dejan Kulusevski

Dejan Kulusevski expects to be back playing in time for this summer's World Cup and claims he's never felt better in his life than he does right now as he closes in on a return from his knee injury.

The Swede injured the patella in his knee back in May last year and after a couple of setbacks following his initial surgery, is yet to return to action for Spurs. Last week he was spotted limping while in Spain meeting his international team-mates ahead of their World Cup play-off semi-final win against Ukraine.

The 25-year-old Tottenham midfielder revealed afterwards that he had undergone a small operation to clean out the knee and that was why he was limping but that the knee was "feeling great now" in a message on Instagram.

Then ahead of Sweden's game, Kulusevski delivered more positive news as he targets a return to action almost a year after his initial injury against Crystal Palace in the Premier League last season.

"I understand that people were worried, but it was really for the wrong reason. It was really positive that I did this little procedure and that we were able to find the problem. Now everything should be solved," he told Swedish media outlet Viaplay. "Now it's just a matter of slowly and surely coming back. I can see the light. It feels better now. I really have a positive feeling about these two important matches [for Sweden] and a World Cup in two or three months. This is how the book and the chapter will end. I am convinced of that."

When asked if he sees himself playing at the World Cup for Sweden this summer, Kulusevski is confident of returning in time for the showpiece tournament in the USA, Canada and Mexico and presumably beforehand to help Tottenham in their Premier League relegation battle.

"One hundred percent. Yes. That (the World Cup) is the driving force I have. To have that opportunity is absolutely fantastic. It's a challenge that I haven't been able to overcome so far in terms of getting healthy, but it's not over yet. Now the second game starts," he said.

Return date: Before the end next month if he is to play at the World Cup

Ben Davies

Davies underwent a second operation in January on the broken ankle he suffered in the Premier League defeat that month to West Ham United.

The 32-year-old Wales international was not involved in the World Cup play-off against Bosnia and Herzegovina and he was linked with potentially taking on a coaching role if Spurs went for another interim head coach before they managed to convince De Zerbi.

Return date: Unknown

Wilson Odobert

Odobert suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in February. He underwent surgery and is now in the early stages of his rehabilitation with the club's medical staff. He was on crutches at the Forest game.

The Frenchman's time at Spurs has been fragmented by injuries and now the 21-year-old will follow in the footsteps of Maddison, Dragusin and Bentancur in going through at least nine months or so out of the game.

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