Jan Vertonghen Admits He Played for Tottenham With Concussion Symptoms for 9 Months

Former Tottenham defender Jan Vertonghen has admitted that he played with dizziness and headaches for nine month after suffering a concussion in April 2019.

The incident took place during Spurs' Champions League semi final against Ajax, with Vertonghen clashing heads with Toby Alderweireld. After being assessed by the club's medical team he returned to the fray, but after realising how severe his symptoms were, he soon signalled to be substituted.

Speaking about the incident with Sky Sports, he recalled how the concussion affected him for some time afterwards.

"Many people don't know this, but [it] affected me for a really long time. I had dizziness and headaches," he said. "The other day, there was the story about David Luiz and [Raul] Jimenez, in which Jimenez suffered a fractured skull.

"With me, it was my nose and I continued to play, which I shouldn't have done, according to the doctors. In the end, I think I suffered from that head injury for about eight or nine months. That was the reason why I didn't play well."

Vertonghen went on to explain that he should have taken a break from first team action but wanted to keep playing in order to prove his worth with his Spurs contract winding down.

"I had a year left on my contract and I thought I had to play because I had to showcase myself to other clubs and to Tottenham, but when I played, I was rubbish. I just couldn't produce a good performance. Not many people knew that.

"That was my own choice and not a criticism of anyone else. After five months, there was a day when I started to feel better. When I see the footage from that time, I know when I didn't feel well by looking at myself.

"I think it was in January that I really didn't know what to do. Match after match, training session after training session, there was more impact. Then it was lockdown, so I didn't do anything for two months and after that it was better."

Vertonghen departed Spurs in the summer, signing for Benfica on a free transfer. He should feature against Arsenal in the Europa League round of 32 in February.