TOTTENHAM USE OBSCURE RULE TO BRING TEL INTO CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SQUAD AS SOLANKE'S INJURY WOES GO ON
Thomas Frank has exercised a UEFA loophole to replace injured striker Dominic Solanke with Mathys Tel in Tottenham's squad for the Champions League.
Tel was omitted from the original squad in September because a lack of homegrown players at Spurs meant they were unable to maximise the full number of squad places available.
Frank chose to leave out Tel and a collection of injured players, including James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevsi, Radu Dragusin, Kota Taki and Yves Bissouma.
Solanke was selected because although out with an ankle injury at the time he was expected to be back soon.
Unfortunately, he later underwent an operation on the injury and is still not back, so Spurs have made the change.
It is thanks to an amendment to competition rules passed at a meeting of UEFA's executive committee in Tirana in September, enabling clubs to replace one player who is ruled out by long term injury or illness, which is defined as an absence of more than 60 days.
Any change must be made before the sixth game of the league phase, which Spurs will play against Slavia Prague on Tuesday.
Frank was asked about the idea on the eve of the Slavia game. 'It is definitely some consideration we have,' said the Spurs boss. 'With the players we have available to make sure we have the most possible weapons to fire with.'
Tel appeared in the official UEFA squad lists on Tuesday in place of Solanke and Spurs later confirmed the switch had been made.
It means Solanke will not be available for the final league phase games in January against Borussia Dortmund and Eintracht Frankfurt.
Solanke has not played since a brief appearance from the bench against Manchester City in August.
He had what was described at the time as a 'minor procedure' on his ankle on October 1 but has not been seen since.
There is an opportunity to make changes to the squad after the league phase of the Champions League if Spurs qualify for the knock out rounds.
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