Thomas Frank rules out one Tottenham star and hints at debut against Villarreal | Football

Tottenham will remain without Dominic Solanke when they take on Villarreal in the Champions League on Tuesday night, but Thomas Frank could hand a debut to another forward.

Solanke is struggling with an ankle issue and missed the last two Spurs fixtures as they were beaten by Bournemouth and then thrashed West Ham.

It is not thought to be a serious problem, but the England international was not involved in training with the rest of the Tottenham squad on Monday.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Frank confirmed that Solanke would not be ready for the first Champions League outing of the season, although he is edging closer to a return.

‘Dom, he’s taking steps in the right direction, so that’s positive,’ said the Spurs boss on Monday afternoon. ‘As you saw there [in training], he’s not ready to be involved tomorrow.’

Frank is dealing with a string of other injuries, which are not clearing up in the near future.

James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski, Radu Dragusin, Yves Bissouma and Kota Takai all remain sidelined.

Tottenham fans could see summer signing Randal Kolo Muani on the pitch for the first time on Tuesday, though, after his arrival on loan from Paris Saint-Germain.

The France international was on the bench for the 3-0 win at West Ham on Saturday but didn’t make an appearance, although Frank says he is available to play.

‘Randal Kolo Muani is ready,’ said the Dane. ‘How many minutes? They can always play more minutes than we think and of course if we needed him to play 90 minutes he could.

‘But can he play at the intensity and the level we want? But he’s ready and involved tomorrow. That’s the most important thing.’

Frank will be managing in the Champions League for the first time after his summer move from Brentford.

He has enjoyed a positive start to life at Spurs, with three wins from their first four Premier League outings and he cannot wait to have a crack at Europe’s top competition.

‘Big thing, hugely looking forward to it,’ he said. ‘Hearing the Champions League anthem, that will be the moment. Now it’s about preparing for it.

‘It’s a new experience tomorrow in many ways. We played in the Championship with Brentford at Griffin Park in a small stadium.

‘Tomorrow we will be in one of the best stadiums in the world playing in the Champions League.’

Villarreal have had a mixed start to their La Liga season, winning their first two games, but then drawing with Celta Vigo and losing to Atletico Madrid on Saturday.

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