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Antonio Conte is worried that Cristian Romero’s hamstring injury is more serious than first thought as Tottenham await the results of a second scan.
Romero sustained the damage during Argentina’s goalless draw with Brazil in last week’s World Cup qualifier and missed Tottenham’s 2-1 win over Leeds United on Sunday.
The severity of the injury remains unclear, but Conte – who is also without Giovanni Lo Celso and Dane Scarlett for Thursday’s trip to Mura in the Europa Conference League – is not optimistic.
“I think his injury is a bit serious. We have to wait. I don’t know how long he will need to recover,” Conte said at Wednesday’s pre-match news conference.
“His injury is worse than Lo Celso and Scarlett. He needs another scan, then the doctor can give more details.”
Spurs signed Romero from Atalanta on an initial loan, with a permanent deal for a reported fee of £35.25million (€42m) set to be sealed in 2022, and the 23-year-old has made 13 appearances in all competitions to date.
Despite the defender potentially facing a prolonged spell on the sidelines, Conte is not yet thinking about bringing in a replacement in the upcoming transfer window.
“I’m not thinking about January now,” he said. “There’s still a long way to go. But I also need to make my evaluations about these players, the whole squad and then we’ll see.”
Conte will take all of his available players to Slovenia for Tottenham’s Europa Conference League tie with Mura, who they beat 5-1 in the reverse fixture under Nuno Espirito Santo.
That includes versatile wide player Ryan Sessegnon following his return to action at the weekend after returning from a three-month spell out of his own.
He has been hampered by injuries throughout his two-and-a-half years with Spurs, which includes a spell on loan with Hoffenheim, but Conte is hopeful the 21-year-old can now get a run of games under his belt.
“Ryan has a great potential. I have seen in the past he suffered injuries, now we are trying to work in the right way with him,” Conte said.
“It’s very important during the training session to push yourself. We are working with him for two weeks and he’s ready to start tomorrow. I can’t wait to see his performance. He’s a talented player. Now he needs regularity.”
Conte added: “All the players available will come with us, they must be ready to play. I need to make rotations. Some players are a bit tired because of games with national team and our training.
“But many need game time. We need to take this fixture seriously. But I need to know the players much better and need to see that during a game.”
