Son Heung-min: Jose Mourinho at odds with Spurs as he rules forward out for rest of the season

Club issued a statement to confirm that Son will undergo surgery on a broken arm and be out for ‘several weeks’, only for Mourinho to claim the forward will not play again before the end of the season

Son Heung-min suffered a fractured arm in Tottenham's 3-2 victory over Aston Villa (AFP via Getty)

Jose Mourinho has gone against Tottenham Hotspur’s diagnosis of Son Heung-min’s arm injury by claiming he does not expect the forward to play again this season, leaving the Spurs boss desperately short on attacking options.

Tottenham announced on Tuesday that the South Korea international will undergo surgery on his right arm after suffering a fracture in the first minute of Sunday’s 3-2 victory over Aston Villa, in which Son scored twice including the winning goal in the 94th minute.

But speaking at his press conference ahead of Tottenham’s Champions League last-16 first leg against RB Leipzig, Mourinho took a far more solemn approach by disagreeing with his press officer’s statement.

"The club wrote a nice statement. If I was the one to write the statement I would write different. We miss him.

"The situation couldn't be worse. That is obvious. There is nothing we can do.

"We are going to play with the players we have available. I was worried about not having attacking options on the bench - now I don't have attacking options on the pitch."

But when pushed on how long he believes the 27-year-old will be ruled out for, Mourinho revealed he doesn’t expect him to play again this season, meaning a three-month spell on the sidelines at the very least.

“If he plays one or two games, it is because he is optimistic and I hope he (the club’s press officer) is right, I hope he is right,” Mourinho added. “But in my mind, no, I am not thinking about that.”

Mourinho’s revelation goes against what the club put out only two hours before, which appeared to suggest that Son would be out for weeks rather than months following surgery later this week. “Son Heung-min is to undergo surgery this week after sustaining a fracture to his right arm,” a statement read.

“The South Korea international suffered the injury during our win against Aston Villa on Sunday.

“Following surgery, our medical staff shall be reviewing management options for Son’s rehabilitation with the player expected to be sidelined for a number of weeks.”

The news is a bitter blow for Spurs given that they are already without first-choice striker Harry Kane, who is not expected to return to action until mid-May at the very earliest and who is also in danger of missing the rest of the campaign.

Son will miss the rest of the season, according to Spurs manager Jose Mourinhho (Reuters)

Mourinho weighed up the two sizeable setbacks with one of his unique analogies, with the Portuguese admitting that the constant injury problems are holding back their progress in the race to qualify for the Champions League.

"You know that I like analogies, and sometimes I do good ones and sometimes I do silly ones - I think in this case, I'll try to do one for you.

"When we arrived we were on the minus-12th floor, we got on the stairs and we started climbing. But immediately in the beginning, the stairs broke so we were in trouble and we were finding a way to try to get up.

"We found a way, with a lot of work and a lot of effort and we started going and going and going, and when we arrive on the fourth floor, which was where we wanted to arrive, somebody came and took the stairs away.

"So now we are in trouble. Now we have two options.

"One is to give up and we will fall and normally die - because it's the fourth floor. Another way is to fight with what we have, no stairs but arms. So, we're going to be on that balcony fighting with everything that we have."

Jose Mourinho believes Tottenham will be without Son for the rest of the season (AFP via Getty)

The Tottenham manager was also asked whether Son’s absence will offer more first-team chances to Troy Parrott and Ryan Sessegnon, but he left little in doubt with his response.

"Parrott is not ready,” Mourinho said, echoing similar comments that he made last month. “Sessegnon is not a striker."