Tottenham Hotspur defender Radu Dragusin is edging closer to return after ACL injury
Tottenham Hotspur are expected to welcome back several first-team players from injury before the end of 2025.
The north London club, much like last season under Ange Postecoglou, have lost several key senior stars due to various fitness problems since the beginning of the 2025/26 campaign. In fact, some are also still yet to return from long-term problems they endured last season before the Europa League final against Manchester United in Bilbao, Spain. Radu Dragusin is one of those.
The central defender sustained an ACL rupture during a Europa League fixture win over Swedish side Elfsborg in January. The serious knee injury sidelined him for the rest of the 2024/25 season and ended up taking away the momentum with which he was finally building in N17.
Thomas Frank provides promising Radu Dragusin injury update
The Romanian international has been gradually building up his fitness in the last couple of months. He returned to the grass in October and is now taking a full part in first-team training. Radu Dragusin, who was not allowed to team up with the Romanian national squad in the last two international breaks, played 45 minutes in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Leyton Orient last week.
On Friday, Thomas Frank gave the latest update on Dragusin’s situation. He explained the defender is closing in on a return to first-team action after training very well over the last few weeks and building up his fitness with 45 minutes under his belt in a friendly.
“Radu very happy and he is a couple of weeks full training all in, everything and played first 45 minutes in nine months last Wednesday,” Frank said in his press conference (h/t Football London).
“Trained fully today, now he is getting very close to be selected and now it is a matter of performance and a few more game minutes to be fully available.”
Dragusin closing in on Tottenham return
Dragusin is on the path to returning from a long-term injury. It is but obvious Spurs are taking extra caution over his return as he was sidelined for over nine months due to an ACL rupture in his right knee.
The Bucharest-born star getting minutes in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Leyton is a sign of progress and marks significant step in his recovery, giving Frank and Tottenham hope of beefing up their defensive options in the coming weeks. Going by the Danish boss’ latest words, we could see Dragusin be involved in another behind-closed-doors friendly or get some action with the Under-21s before he’s ready to be integrated into the first team.
All in all, it is great to see Dragusin close to returning to action for the Lilywhites.