Mauricio Pochettino is unconvinced that Tottenham left-back Danny Rose will be ready for the start of next season after a recent setback in his rehabilitation from a knee injury resulted in him undergoing surgery on Tuesday.
Rose suffered damage to his knee ligaments on January 31 in Spurs' Premier League clash with Sunderland and was only initially expected to be out for a month.
However, Rose has not played since and, after his recent return to training proved a little too hasty, it was decided he needed exploratory surgery to get to the bottom of the issue.
The England international could now be out for several more months and Pochettino was unable to reassure fans about a potential return before the 2017-18 Premier League campaign starts in August.
"Now we need to see [if he can return by August]," Pochettino told reporters ahead of Thursday's trip to Leicester City. "We need to see how he reacts after that situation.
"Then always it's day by day to see how he recovers. We wish him a speedy recovery because it will be good for us, the team.
"Always it's a difficult moment for him, after three months and two weeks. It was January he got injured, but we are here to support him, to help him to try to be available as soon as possible.
"There is some period about his recovery that we cannot accelerate, it's about how his knee recovers."
