Tottenham have confirmed that Lucas Moura will return to action for the Under-21s in their Premier League 2 fixture against Arsenal on Friday evening. The Brazilian has endured a nightmare season through injury, featuring in only 11 games for Spurs since August.
His absence due to a tendon issue has impacted Antonio Conte's plans at times as fellow attackers Son Heung-min, Dejan Kulusevski and Richarlison have all spent lengthy spells on the sidelines. Amid question marks over his exact return date given he last featured for the team in November, the club have revealed that he will take to the pitch at Boreham Wood this evening.
Speaking to SPURSPLAY, Tottenham assistant head coach Cristian Stellini has opened up on the player's return, indicating that he will play one half against Arsenal's youngsters in his quest to return to full fitness.
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"Lucas is coming back, and to try to analyse his situation, tonight, he can play one half for the Under-21s," the Italian explained. "We are happy to know that maybe Lucas can come back. We’ve lost him for a long time, and it’s a problem that you don’t know until you try to play a game, to understand if you can be available or not."
Ahead of Tottenham's Boxing Day clash against Brentford, football.london asked Conte in his pre-match press conference for the latest on Lucas' fitness. Admitting that the player was "struggling a lot to find a solution" to his problem, he also claimed that "it's like you don't have him" due to the amount of games that he had missed.
"About Lucas Moura, we didn’t have him from the start of the season. And we are continuing to not have him," explained the Italian. "He has this problem, he is struggling a lot to find a solution. For sure it’s a difficult situation. Because I have a good player in my squad, but he’s never available. It’s like you don’t have him.
"It’s a pity because I repeat: we are talking about a good player, a good guy, but he is struggling a lot to solve this problem. I don’t know, I don’t know what in the future happens about him."
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