Pochettino angry at Martinez for Vertonghen injury announcement

Roberto Martinez revealed Tottenham’s Jan Vertonghen is expected to be out until November, which angered Mauricio Pochettino.

Mauricio Pochettino has expressed his unhappiness at Belgium coach Roberto Martinez for revealing Tottenham defender Jan Vertonghen is expected to be out for around six weeks.

Vertonghen was left out of Martinez’s Red Devils squad on Friday due to a hamstring injury he sustained in Tottenham’s 2-0 win at Huddersfield Town last weekend.

No timeframe had been given for the 31-year-old’s return until the Belgium boss divulged he would also likely miss the November international fixtures when he spoke at his squad announcement.

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That news conference occurred before Pochettino met the media on Friday, and the Argentine felt it was not Martinez’s place to reveal the extent of Vertonghen’s problem.

Answering a question about Harry Winks’ England call-up, Pochettino told reporters: “It’s so difficult to communicate with all the national teams. Look at now, before my press conference you knew about the Vertonghen situation because Roberto told the media in Belgium before us.

“But in the end, it’s our player, our Tottenham player. Our Tottenham employee.

“We arrived here and we needed to explain. It’s difficult. They need to call us. They need to call and ask.

“If they call us, we are more than open to talk and give our opinion. But if they don’t call, our door is always open to receive.”

Pochettino’s assistant Jesus Perez was also present at the news conference and revealed Vertonghen is set to undergo a second scan on Monday to determine the severity of the problem.

“Of course, we’re so disappointed with that but we’ll see if it’s six weeks or less,” Pochettino added.