Thomas Frank given Dominic Solanke Tottenham injury return update before Brighton clash

Tottenham striker Dominic Solanke looks to have taken one huge step closer towards a return from injury after missing the last three games. The 28-year-old has been dealing with an ankle issue since early August which has resulted in him only playing 50 minutes of competitive football this season.

All of those arrived before September's international break with Solanke unavailable for wins against West Ham United and Villarreal after surprisingly being absent from the squad to face his former club Bournemouth prior to the two-week domestic pause.

Despite having nearly three weeks to recover ahead of last Saturday's win over West Ham, Solanke was ruled out of the London derby and yet Frank still delivered a mostly positive update.

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"Dom will not be available still, we don't expect it to be too long but he will not be available for this game," he said in a press conference.

With only a few days between Spurs' latest two victories, it was no surprise that Solanke remained out but again Frank's comments suggested a return is not too far off.

"He is taking steps in the right direction," the Tottenham boss revealed before the Villarreal win earlier this week. "So that is positive. As you saw out there [that he was not involved in training], he is not ready to be involved tomorrow."

For a number of weeks, Frank has been delivering similar Solanke updates in his press conferences and yet he has continued to be absent.

However, it certainly looks as though there was substance to his words with the England international captured out on the grass doing some individual training on Thursday, as per Sky Sports' Michael Bridge.

A return to the matchday squad facing Brighton this Saturday is highly unlikely considering how long he has been out and also because he is yet to training with the squad this month.

It is certainly a positive update though and, barring any untimely setbacks, Solanke could return before the next international break against either Bodo/Glimt in the Champions League or Leeds United a few days later in Premier League action.

This injury boost has arrived following James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski updates. The two attackers are both out with long-term knee injuries but are stepping up their rehabilitation in the gym at Hotspur Way.

Maddison also captioned an Instagram post: "Missing it so much. Long long way to go but I cannot wait to be back out there in that spurs shirt man!!!! [hands together and white heart emoji]."