Tottenham Exclusive: Erik Lamela set for Serie A return after suffering latest setback

Erik Lamela may well have played his last game for Tottenham. The Argentina winger is unlikely to feature again this term because of a hip injury and could make a return to Serie A in the summer.

And should he depart that would leave Eriksen as the sole remaining recruit from the £110million spending spree that Spurs embarked upon in 2013 using the cash generated by the then world-record sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid.

Lamela, who cost a club-record £30million from Roma in August 2013 when Andre Villas-Boas was manager, has endured the most frustrating of seasons.

The 25-year-old started strongly, as if to confound the critics who had jeeringly suggested that the final two letters of his surname were actually silent.

He was a regular Premier League pick in an attacking midfield three, helping Spurs to the emphatic victory at the beginning of October that ended Manchester City’s unbeaten start to the campaign, and he was also selected for the Champions League assignments against Monaco, CSKA Moscow and Bayer Leverkusen.

Yet he has not played since October 25, when he came on as a second-half substitute at Anfield on a night when an under-strength Tottenham side was knocked out of the EFL Cup by Liverpool.

Lamela did not appear to be in any trouble during that game but has since been sidelined by a hip problem that has taken far longer to heal than the club’s medics had anticipated.

The player was sent back to Rome in January and a scan suggested surgery would not be required. Yet two months on Lamela continues to report pain during training sessions, making going under the knife after all an increasingly likely solution. Either way, it appears he will not be available for first-team duties this term.

“The Argentina international has undergone a comprehensive rehabilitation process following the injury in November,” the club said.

“The player has achieved a good level of function, however he has been unable to reach the stage required to make a full return to training. 

And the player cannot have failed to have noticed also that Tottenham have continued to thrive without him. Inter Milan, aware that new contract talks remain impossible until he regains full fitness, have explored the possibility of bringing him back to Italy and believe they would have to pay no more than £10m to do so.

Even with Harry Kane injured Tottenham have continued to score goals and win games, with Eriksen thriving alongside England’s Dele Alli.

It would be no surprise therefore if manager Mauricio Pochettino decided he could do without his countryman, who has also had to contend with off-field problems this term.

In December he returned to Argentina after his brother was hurt in a motorcycle accident, and he had to cope with the death of his beloved dog, Simba. Tottenham fans, though sympathetic to the player’s problems, would probably not lament his sale either.

Which brings us back to September 2013 when Garth Crooks declared that his old club had “sold Elvis” – Bale – and “bought the Beatles”.

Sadly, the hoped-for supergroup turned out to be more Paul McCartney and Wings with far too many of the new recruits vying for the role of Linda on tuneless backing vocals.

Roberto Soldado, Paulinho and Vlad Chiriches were notable flops and while Etienne Capoue and Nacer Chadli have since gone on to maintain reputations as solid Premier League performers, only Eriksen has lived up to his billing as one of the brightest young prospects in Europe when he made a dramatic breakthrough at Ajax.

Lamela, for his part, only occasionally impressed in a white shirt before last season – his rabona goal against Asteras Tripolis in October 2014 was a particular highlight – and his style is probably more suited to Serie A, where South American players often feel more at home culturally.

If he does go he will be fondly remembered by Spurs fans but unlikely to be greatly missed.

Meanwhile, Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy has suggested the club could continue playing at White Hart Lane next season.

Spurs have until tomorrow to activate their option to play at Wembley after their application to host 27 matches at the stadium’s full 90,000 capacity was approved.

Yet Levy has revealed the club are seeking “greater certainty” that their new 61,000-seater stadium will be ready in time for the 2018-19 campaign.

Tottenham could therefore stay at their current ground next season and play home games at Wembley the following year, before moving into the new stadium for the 2019-20 campaign.

“Whilst everyone is eager to know if this is our last season at the Lane, we shall only make the decision to decommission our historic White Hart Lane when we have greater certainty on the delivery of the new stadium,” he said.

Spurs revealed record revenue of £209.8m for the year ending June 30, 2016, and profit after interest and tax of £33m, up from £9.4m the previous year.