POCHETTINO: IMPOSSIBLE FOR LAMELA TO LEAVE

LONDON -- Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has dismissed suggestions that Erik Lamela could leave, saying it is "impossible" for the winger to think of moving clubs while he recovers from injury.
Lamela has been linked with a return to Italy since he joined Spurs from Roma for £30 million in 2014, and the rumours have increased while he has been sidelined with a hip problem since October.
The Argentina international will have surgery in Barcelona on Saturday -- described by Pochettino as a "last resort" to get him fit.
Since he last played, Lamela has spent time in his home city of Buenos Aires on compassionate leave and in Rome, where he was treated for the hip problem at his former club.
A relative lack of information from Spurs and Pochettino, plus Lamela's reluctance to speak publicly, has led to speculation including reports that the 25-year-old has played his last game for the club.
But Pochettino said: "That was so strange to hear. In the media Lamela is linked with different clubs -- it's difficult for me to understand.
"It's a player who has not played since October. And all that he is suffering in the last four or five months -- do you think that he is thinking to move? That he is thinking to go to Italy? He is very happy here.
"The problems he has... he was desperate, and the club was desperate, to find the solution.
"But it made me laugh every time I heard all that in the media. Because it is impossible for him, impossible for the club, impossible for his agent, impossible for his people, to think about moving. Where?
"Now he needs help, and who better than us to help him in the next few months? I think you know better than me that it does not make sense."
Lamela endured a similarly troubled first season at Tottenham, when a back problem meant he finished the campaign with just three league starts.
However, he has since become one of Pochettino's most trusted players, and the manager has backed him to get back to his best again.
"I don't believe it will be tough [to recover]. He is a person who likes to work hard," he said.
"He is very professional. If he starts to feel good and fixes the problem -- the pain he feels in his hip -- the recovery will come quick and he will be on the pitch again training with us.
"He needs our love, our support, to be sure that all is going well. I hope all goes well on Saturday and then he starts to think about recovery as soon as possible."