Tottenham's Mohammed Kudus out until March, Rodrigo Bentancur has 'big' hamstring injury
Spurs head coach Thomas Frank also said that Dejan Kulusevski is still at least "three to four weeks" away from training on grass.
Tottenham Hotspur head coach Thomas Frank says Mohammed Kudus and Rodrigo Bentancur are set for spells on the sidelines.
Kudus, 25, sustained a leg injury during the 1-1 draw with Sunderland on January 4. Frank said the attacking midfielder is not expected to return until the March international break, which starts in the week commencing March 23.
Bentancur, 28, was substituted towards the latter stages of the 3-2 defeat at Bournemouth on Wednesday, while fellow midfielder Lucas Bergvall had also been withdrawn earlier in the second half.
“Lucas is being assessed today,” Frank said at his press conference on Thursday ahead of their FA Cup third-round tie at Aston Villa. “We’ll know more later today with him.
“Same with Rodri (Bentancur). Rodri is a hamstring injury, looks like a bigger one, unfortunately. We don’t know the timeframe, that we also will know later.
“Kudus is, unfortunately, a bigger one to the quad. So that’s one where we expect him back after the March international break.”
The Danish coach also provided an update on attacking midfielder Dejan Kulusevski. The Sweden international is yet to feature this season after undergoing knee surgery in May 2025.
Frank had said in September that the 25-year-old had a “good chance” of returning from his injury before the end of 2025.
On Thursday, he said: “The latest on Dejan Kulusevski is that we know it’s a complicated injury. If there’s one person that can accelerate that, it’s Dejan. He’s a top pro. Got a top mentality.
“The most important thing is to remove the pain in the knee. He got an injection to help that 10 days ago. We’ll know in three to four weeks if it’s settled, and when it’s settled, hopefully, he’ll be on the grass. And from there, we’ll see what’s happening.”
Frank added Cristian Romero would not be fined by the club after he appeared to criticise the club’s hierarchy, accusing “other people” at the club of not speaking out during their poor run of form and telling a “few lies” when things were going better on the pitch.
“He’s our captain, he’s not been fined,” Frank said.
“I think there’s a lot of ways to deal with different situations. Chosen to have a good conversation with him, understand where he stands. Had that internally, and that’s everything I have to say.”
Kudus, who joined Spurs from West Ham United last summer in a deal worth around £55million ($74.7m), has scored three goals and provided six assists in 26 games for his new side this campaign.
