Tottenham’s Toby Alderweireld is unlikely to be fit in time for Wednesday’s Champions League match against Bayer Leverkusen or the north London derby against Arsenal on Sunday.

The centre-back was carried off against West Brom on October 16 and has missed four matches with nerve damage to his knee.

Boss Mauricio Pochettino knew Alderweireld would miss Saturday’s 1-1 home draw with Leicester but said there was a chance the Belgian would return this week.

However, Standard Sport understands that is no longer the case and that the defender will not feature in the home game against Leverkusen or at Arsenal.

His place has gone to Eric Dier, who Pochettino said could even keep his place when Alderweireld is fit.

The move sees Dier return to role of centre back having been transformed into an impressive defensive midfielder by Pochettino for club and country, having also played at right-back during his first season with Spurs.

And speaking last week, Dier insisted that he can become Tottenham’s answer to Philipp Lahm or Javier Mascherano by becoming an expert in many different roles.

He told Standard Sport: “I could do a list of loads of top players who play in many different positions. David Alaba and Philipp Lahm of Bayern Munich, or Javier Mascherano of Barcelona.

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“People always seem to want to pin me down to one position but I see players all over Europe who play in more than one. It ensures they get appearances for their clubs and it’s a fantastic weapon for a manager.

“It’s a bit stupid to be talking about it [playing in a specific position]. If I could get to the level of players like Alaba, Lahm or Mascherano, I would be a very happy man.”



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