Spurs boss: No signings needed to replace Sandro

By Ben Pearce, Tottenham correspondent Friday, January 18, 2013
3:04 PM

Andre Villas-Boas says Tottenham have no plans to enter the transfer market to replace Sandro after the midfielder was ruled out for the rest of the season.

Sandro suffered a knee injury at QPR on Saturday and underwent surgery on Tuesday - and Spurs confirmed today that the Brazilian will now miss the rest of the campaign.

The Lilywhites have delayed a decision over Jake Livermore’s proposed loan to QPR, but Villas-Boas says he is happy with his options in midfield, and he has reiterated that Lewis Holtby’s move to White Hart Lane is unlikely to be brought forward.

“Could he come here early now? No, the only thing we’ve done at the moment is hold onto our midfielders - the ones who are here,” said the head coach.

“We’ve put a little bit of movement on Jake’s possible loan to another club. It’s not out of the question but we’ve held onto that possibility.

“On the rest, I think we’re pretty happy with what we have. Scotty [Parker] was out in the beginning of the season and he’s going to be a major boost for us in midfield. Tom Huddlestone showed good levels in the game against Coventry, and Jake was always there threatening so I think we’re fine.

“It’s not unlikely [that Jake will be loaned that], but we have to be careful. We’ve still got a couple of weeks before the market closes so we just have to be careful with the decision.”

Villas-Boas had initially hoped that Sandro would be able to play again this season, but his optimism has been dashed.

“When the game finished the first diagnosis was positive,” he said. “He felt pain in the knee but we were positive regarding his cruciate, even on the doctor’s initial assessment.

“We thought there wasn’t a complete tear of his ACL, which would have given us some kind of chance of having him back this season.

“But when he had the surgery he found out that it was a complete tear to the ACL so the player is going to be out for the rest of the season. We won’t see him any more unfortunately.

“It’s normally six months for a cruciate, plus the lateral mediscus. There are some good positive signs that it might be four to five months, but there are also cases where he could be out for seven or eight.”

Villas-Boas maintains that he is not expecting Tottenham to do a great deal of business in the remaning days of the transfer window.

“It’s not impossible but it’s unlikely,” he said. “I want to keep to what I’ve told you in the past. It’s very difficult. It’s a bit similar to what happened last year in the transfer window.

“Obviously Daniel Sturridge moved to Liverpool and Demba Ba has moved to Chelsea. They’re the main ones I guess at the moment, but the rest of the market is very quiet and I think this will set a pattern for the future.”

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