Jan Vertonghen reveals worrying impact of Tottenham head injury vs Ajax | OneFootball

Highlights

Belgian defender Jan Vertonghen has revealed the worrying mental effects he suffered after colliding with Andre Onana in a game between Tottenham Hotspur and Ajax in 2019. It happened during Spurs' run to the Champions League final and continued to impact him on and off the field up until an enforced break when football was put on pause due to the pandemic.

While fans of the north London club will fondly recall the famous semi-final comeback in Amsterdam when Lucas Moura netted a hat-trick to seal a 3-2 win in the dying embers of the match, the first leg was less enjoyable. Tottenham lost the game 1-0, with Donny van de Beek scoring after 15 minutes and on the half an hour mark, there was a nasty collision between three players.

Looking to get back into the game immediately, Kieran Trippier swung a deep freekick into the Ajax penalty box. Onana came rushing out and punched the ball to safety. However, he also caught Vertonghen in the face with his elbow, while Toby Alderweireld was left in a heap on the floor as well. Adding to the pain, it appeared as though the two Belgian defenders also clashed heads at the same time.

Vertonghen suffers nasty head injury vs Ajax

Despite being left a bloody mess, Vertonghen initially played on but about nine minutes later he had to be substituted off. While speaking recently on the 'Mid Mid' podcast (via HLN), he has now revealed the lasting effect of his head injury. He began:

Vertonghen struggled in Champions League final

Sadly, he wasn't himself for the Champions League final against Liverpool either. And after that defeat in arguably the biggest game of his career, his mental issues continued to persist:

“I spent the entire final counting down to the 90th minute. On the way back to the hotel I fell asleep on the players' bus. I felt really bad during that period, the link to the collision with Alderweireld and Onana was quickly made.

“I have been to almost all specialists, but no explanation was found. I couldn't go to a restaurant. I tried it once and had to leave after ten minutes. I couldn't tolerate crowds, fell asleep anywhere. Normally I never sleep on the road, during that period it happened everywhere. I felt there was more to it and kept talking about it. Now I am convinced that it was a mental-psychological problem. Now when I see photos from that time, I immediately see that something was wrong. That my eyes were different. I was also often 'down'.

“The doctor's tests showed there was no physical problem, everything was fine. But running exercises in preparation did not work. I had no tangible injury, 'man up' was kind of the mentality. My contract was expiring, if I said I had mental problems, I didn't know what that would mean for other clubs.

“You also see that I played very bad matches that year. Norwich and Chelsea away, those are matches I remember very well. I headed next to balls and stuff. I saw Mourinho - then coach at Tottenham - look at halftime with a 'you stay in' look, and I was also happy that I was substituted. It was all very strange. I didn't realize at the time that I might have a mental problem.”

Vertonghen continued to play for Spurs and it wasn't until he was forced to rest during the break caused by the Coronavirus that he finally began to recover. In the podcast, he referred to that time as his 'salvation' and explained that he has thankfully been feeling fine for the past two years, although remains 'vigilant' about the situation.

The 36-year-old left his former Premier League side in 2020 to join Benfica. After two years in Portugal, he moved to Anderlecht and remains a part of their squad this season, having played in all their league games up to this point in the campaign.