Antonio Conte ruled out new signing Clement Lenglet from Tottenham's trip to Chelsea on Sunday and said the on-loan Barcelona defender was struggling with fatigue.
The 27-year-old made his Spurs debut on the opening weekend of the season but played just four minutes when he came off the bench in the 4-1 win over Southampton.
The France international was hoping to make his full debut for his new team at Stamford Bridge but had to wait due to unforeseen problems.
The Tottenham manager said Lenglet had fatigue issues with his captors which would have kept him from traveling north to west London. At a press conference on Friday, Conte said: "There was a slight problem with Clément Lenglet. I don't think he is available for the Chelsea game, let alone the next one against Wolverhampton [Wanderers]. All the other players are good.
"It's a bit of a fatigue problem [with Lenglet] and he's a bit tired in the adductor. Nothing serious, just a precaution, but there's no point in taking stupid risks in the game.
"He had separate training sessions but I think it's good for him to recover well and have a good training session before he comes back to us." Other summer signings Yves Bissuma and Ivan Perisic also came off the bench against the Saints, while Spurs fans are likely to see Richarlison for the first time on Sunday.
The former Everton man was suspended on the opening weekend but hopes to step down against Chelsea, although that was unlikely to happen early on after a fine start to the campaign with Harry Kane, Heung-min Son, and Dejan Kulusevski at the helm.
This is an example of the incredible options Conte has now and the Italian is much happier now than he was with his squad last season.
"In our team, I am very happy because I repeat that compared to last season we improved our squad with Ritchie in the forward position, but don't forget that we lost [Steven] Bergween," Conte said. "Then [Brian] Gill was on loan last season and now he's in this squad of 20. I think in midfield we also improved with Bissuma and Winks and then Lenglet at the back.
"I think we're signing players with common sense, to find players with the right qualities that will help us improve and have players who are reliable and willing to make a good impact, not this and playing that effect when I have to call it that. to the top.'
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