Martinez delivered an update on the injury status of Tottenham defender Jan Vertonghen.
Mauricio Pochettino has seemingly aimed a dig at Belgium manager Roberto Martinez for divulging information about Tottenham Hotspur defender Jan Vertonghen, before the Argentine boss was able to do so himself.
Martinez was asked about Vertonghen’s availability in his press conference on Friday morning, and as quoted by the Red Devils’ Facebook page, he said: “It’s bad news. He could miss two Belgium camps,” meaning he will be out for six weeks.
The 31-year-old is currently struggling with a hamstring problem that saw him miss Spurs’ 3-1 loss to Barcelona, and will now remain on the sidelines until November.
Pochettino seemed to be frustrated in his press conference ahead of Saturday afternoon’s clash against Cardiff City, telling media that Vertonghen is Spurs’ player and that the club needed to release the information – not Belgium.
“Before my press conference you knew about the Vertonghen situation because Roberto told the media in Belgium before us. But in the end it’s our player, our Tottenham player. Our Tottenham employee,” Pochettino said.
“We arrived here & we needed to explain.”
With six weeks on the sidelines, Vertonghen is expected to miss the matches against Cardiff on Saturday, and then West Ham United in the league and in the Carabao Cup, PSV twice, Man City, Wolves and Crystal Palace.
It remains to be seen how much longer Vertonghen will be a Tottenham player, with his contract expiring next summer – though a new deal is expected to be agreed.
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