VAR blamed for injury to €40m Premier League star
Robin Bairner
- 8 Nov 2023 02:58 CST
- 3 min read
Micky van de Ven’s hamstring injury has been blamed on the long VAR stoppages during Tottenham’s Premier League clash with Chelsea on Monday.
Spurs paid Wolfsburg €40 million for the defender during the summer and the 22-year-old has excelled in the heart of Ange Postecoglou’s defence.
His dream start to the season, however, took an ugly turn during the Premier League clash on Monday, when he pulled up with an apparent hamstring injury during an encounter that was punctuated with long and complicated VAR stoppages.
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Van de Ven suffered his issue not long after a seven-minute break in play, and PFA chief executive Maheta Molango says that VAR is at least partly to blame.
Speaking to the Sun about the issue, he was asked if such long a long pause might be an issue and he replied: “Intuitively I would say yes — that the stoppages like we saw on Monday will lead to injuries because players cooled down and then have to sprint straight away.
“Player welfare should be a big issue.
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“But we are killing the product at the moment and that should be everybody’s biggest fear.
“I would prefer to speak about facts and figures and clear evidence rather than just a feeling.
“One of our ideas is to create a group of experts who can provide data so we know for sure. So that will be physios, coaches and doctors who can look at everything on the performance side.”
Van de Ven injury the tip of the iceberg for Spurs
Van de Ven’s issue is simply one of several that Spurs sustained during the fixture as they saw both Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie sent off during a dramatic and highly entertaining 4-1 defeat.
The injury to the Dutchman, though, is clearly the biggest blow to Tottenham, with their star summer signing now expected to miss many weeks because of the problem.
Postecoglou only has a thin squad of players to work with, so his resources will be tested to the maximum when they visit Wolves at the weekend, though the Australian would not be drawn into criticising VAR or the officials after the Chelsea defeat.
