Millwall: Alex Neil issues new update on Japhet Tanganga situation | OneFootball

The defender has missed the Lions' last two matches due to a hand injury.

Alex Neil is hoping that Japhet Tanganga will be back in action for Millwall for their game against Norwich City on Easter Monday.

Tanganga has missed his side's last two matches, against Sheffield United and Middlesbrough; both were 1-0 wins. Those two results have given the Lions a chance to sneak into the play-off places in the final weeks of the season - a task that will be much easier to complete if Neil has the former Tottenham Hotspur defender to call upon.

It was a broken bone in his hand that prevented him from playing against the Blades and Boro. He was forced to come off after 43 minutes in his last outing for Millwall, against Portsmouth, and has since had surgery to fix the issue.

Alex Neil provides timeline for Japhet Tanganga's return

This is one of the rarer cases in football when surgery won't lead to weeks or months on the sidelines. The Millwall boss is hoping to have the 26-year-old available again by the end of the long Easter weekend, when his side welcome Norwich to The Den, but the decision on whether Tanganga can play isn't solely up to him.

Neil told NewsAtDen: "It’ll be based around Japhet and his surgery, in terms of we’re going to get a splint round his wrist. So I think we’re going to try and get one fitted for him. It depends if the surgeon thinks he can play; it’ll depend on how safe and comfortable it is for him to play.

"I’m not sure about Blackburn, but depending on how that meeting goes, he may be in contention for Norwich."

One bad piece of injury-related news for the Lions is that Camiel Neghli will be out for the remainder of the season. The winger who scored Millwall's winner against Michael Carrick's side on Saturday limped off with just over 10 minutes to go in normal time, having himself come on as a substitute just 20 minutes or so prior.

Millwall will receive big play-off push boost from Tanganga's return

Millwall haven't struggled in the couple of matches that they have been without Tanganga so far, keeping two clean sheets against two of the Championship's best sides. Tristan Crama has deputised very well alongside first-team captain Jake Cooper.

However, for as well as the Frenchman has played in this short stint, everyone knows that Millwall's best XI, when healthy, has Tanganga alongside Cooper. He's arguably one of the better defenders in the division when he's on his A-game, and he will need to be once he's back because this is the most important stretch of games for the club since they narrowly missed out on the top six in the 2022/23 campaign.