Mauricio Pochettino has said he still has to manage Mousa Dembélé’s playing minutes with the utmost care, despite the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder having undergone surgery at the end of last season in a bid to ease a long-standing foot problem.
Pochettino has referred to Dembélé as his “genius” and, ordinarily, the Belgian would be the first name on the Spurs team sheet. Virtually every Tottenham player would say Dembélé is the best player at the club but Pochettino has surprised some onlookers by naming the 30-year-old as a substitute in the Premier League for the past two weekends against Everton and Swansea City. Dembélé was not used against Swansea.
The midfielder started the club’s past two midweek fixtures against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League and Barnsley in the Carabao Cup and it is unclear whether he will be restored to the starting lineup in the league team for the derby at West Ham on Saturday lunchtime. Tottenham play at Apoel Nicosia in the Champions League next Tuesday.
Dembélé started in only one of Tottenham’s final five matches last season, as the pain in his left foot became too much to bear, and he resorted to the operation because he “couldn’t go on like that”. He has sometimes managed the injury with anti-inflammatories and he admitted in July – after the surgery – he would never be 100% again.
“It is so important to manage him properly,” Pochettino said. “We have very good communication with the doctor, physio, sports science and coaching staff to try to help him because to help him is to help the team.
“He is a player who I have told you many times is, for me, one of the geniuses that I have met in football. It is key to keep him fit and try to provide all the quality that he has to the team. He shares the decisions. That relationship is important in order to help him.”
Pochettino had been prickly when asked about Dembélé’s omission from the Swansea game last Saturday and he chose his words carefully on Thursday. The subject feels like a sensitive one.
“I cannot say anything [about Dembélé playing at less than 100%] because that is a private matter and it is more the doctor who can explain better,” Pochettino said. “But I think after I’m here at the club for three seasons, you trust in what I say and our fans trust in our decisions.
“It’s a private matter, a medical matter, and it’s so difficult to speak about – first of all, because I don’t have the vocabulary in English to explain everything properly and then, to make a mistake, is so easy. It’s better to be cautious about what I say.”