It is almost four months since Dominic Solanke led the line for Tottenham in their first pre-season match of the summer.
The 28-year-old has not started a single competitive match under Frank. His three appearances this season have all come off the bench and he featured for a grand total of 31 minutes in the Premier League.
The most recent of those appearances came in August against Manchester City and the wait for Solanke’s first-team return goes on.
Solanke picked up an ankle issue in the summer that meant he missed the majority of pre-season and it is one he never really fully recovered from. He has hardly trained with the first team since July.
He was ruled out of facing his former club Bournemouth in August, but it was hoped that resting over the international break that followed would help resolve the injury.
Frank continued to insist it was “nothing big” in the weeks that followed, though Solanke missed another five matches.
It was then announced ahead of the clash with Bodo/Glimt at the end of September that the forward would have “minor surgery” on his ankle.
Solanke has been recovering from that in the six weeks since.
Last appearance: Dominic Solanke
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What has Thomas Frank said?
Confirming that Solanke would undergo surgery, Frank said at the time: “I don’t expect it to be long.”
Updates in the subsequent weeks have followed a similar pattern of Solanke being on track but not yet being close to returning.
The first update after the surgery was that it had gone well, and that Solanke was “progressing and going forward”.
On October 24, Frank said Solanke was “taking steps in the right direction every day, was on the grass again today on his own”.
Three days later, the Spurs boss said the striker had made “steps forward” again.
By the end of October, Frank confirmed that Solanke would not be available before the current international break, and that Spurs would be cautious with his recovery.
He said: “We’re very aware of when we get Dom back, we hope – touch wood – we have him back and no setbacks, so we are very aware of doing it the right way.”
Always the optimist: Thomas Frank
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Frank added: “Most likely when he’s back, he will come off the bench and then we will take it from there.”
Solanke will be one of the first-team players at Hotspur Way over the international break and Spurs hope the fortnight will prove significant in his progress.
“I think the international break will be the big deciding factor because we have two weeks there to push in the next steps,” Frank said on Friday last week.
“As I say, it’s going forward.”
When will Dominic Solanke be back?
That much remains very much up in the air.
Spurs are planning on playing a behind-closed-doors friendly during the international break, with Radu Dragusin in line to feature for his first minutes since suffering an ACL injury in January.
However, Solanke is not expected to be ready to take part in that match.
The striker is not yet back in team training and so a return against Arsenal straight after the international break on November 23 looks unlikely.
Frank was asked last week whether fans could expect to see Solanke back on the pitch before the end of 2025 and the response was not entirely convincing.
“I do hope so,” he said. “I would say let’s see what happens after the international break.
“We are still [making] steps forward. It’s on track so far.”
The ankle issue is evidently one that Solanke is still managing and the minor surgery has not proved to be a quick fix.
When he does return, Spurs want it to be for good. How far away that comeback is remains unclear.
