Luka Vuskovic admits his key weakness, Kota Takai returns but Tottenham starlet has serious injury

It's time to check in on Tottenham Hotspur's big group of loan players as they reach the business end of their seasons across the world

Promotion, relegation and pride are all on the line for Tottenham's loan players as their time at clubs across the globe starts to wind towards its end.

Roberto De Zerbi is now at the helm of Tottenham and the new Italian head coach will be wanting to look at various players inside the club this summer, potentially even more if the worst happens and the north London outfit contrive to get themselves relegated next month.

Spurs have 18 players out on loan and developing across different levels of the Football League as well as playing in Scotland, Germany, Italy and South America. Some of them earned promotion at the weekend to go on their CVs while others are battling away at the bottom of their divisions.

Here's how every single one of Tottenham's massive loan army got on across the the various continents in the past seven days.

Luka Vuskovic (Hamburg)

Luka Vuskovic's knee joint is believed to be "more severely damaged" than first thought according to reports in Germany. The Spurs teenager has missed the past two matches with a knee injury picked up in training on April 7 and HSV have gone from conceding 13 goals in 11 games with Vuskovic in the backline to conceding seven across two defeats at Stuttgart and Werder Bremen.

German media outlet Bild are now reporting that the joint in his knee is "more severely damaged" than originally thought and the youngster has not even been able to do any individual rehabilitation work on the grass. A comeback against Hoffenheim this Saturday night in Hamburg is currently looking doubtful with no timeline of return given by the outlet.

One criticism of Vuskovic has been his lack of pace and acceleration and the teenager admitted that he trying to work on that aspect of his game.

"I know my weaknesses. I've been training with a private coach for a while now to work on my speed," he said in an interview with Frankfurter Allgemeine. "As a footballer, you don't have to be a 100m sprinter, but a good start definitely helps. I'm constantly trying to improve my timing in certain situations. I often act on instinct, but some things just take practice.

"There used to be situations I wanted to anticipate, but sometimes I started too early, and sometimes too late. It's slowly getting better. That's especially key against fast and skilful strikers. If I know I can't catch my opponent, it can sometimes help if I take a step forward so he's offside."

The Croatian has made 27 appearances and played 2,460 minutes for the Bundesliga outfit and has attracted interest from big clubs aplenty.

Kota Takai (Borussia Monchengladbach)

Kota Takai finally returned to action at the weekend, stepping off the bench with three minutes of normal time remaining of Borussia Monchengladbach's 1-1 draw at home with Mainz on Sunday.

The 21-year-old Japan international had returned to the bench last weekend following a muscle strain but these were his first minutes on the pitch in two months.

Takai has made just seven appearances on this loan spell in the Bundesliga and has endured an injury-hit time since arriving in Europe last summer.

Mikey Moore (Rangers)

Mikey Moore had a weekend to recover from his hip issue as Rangers had no fixture. The 18-year-old has been playing through some hip pain in recent weeks and he was taken off at half-time in the win at Falkirk last weekend and later said on social media: "Time to get myself 100% to be able to give everything in these last five games."

Moore has played 42 games in a big loan season at Rangers, getting 2,398 minutes of football, with eight goal involvements in 28 Scottish Premiership appearances.

He will be looking to be fresh to face Motherwell at Ibrox on Sunday ahead of the huge top of the table clash with Hearts.

Manor Solomon (Fiorentina)

Manor Solomon will be hoping to feature in Fiorentina's Serie A game at Lecce on Monday night after returning last weekend from the bench following six weeks out with a grade 1-2 hip flexor strain in his right thigh.

The 26-year-old winger had become a regular starter with two goals in his previous 11 matches for the Italian side as a fixture on either wing.

Alejo Veliz (Rosario Central)

Alejo Veliz was also due to play for Rosario on Monday night as they host Sarmiento Junin in the league.

Veliz has scored four goals in 14 appearances so far this campaign and is expected to head to Bahia at the end of the season after Tottenham agreed a deal with the Brazilian side to sell Veliz once his current loan at Rosario ends. A £7.8m (9m euros) deal was agreed with £871k in add-ons (1m euros) plus a 20% sell-on clause.

Dane Scarlett (Hibernian)

Like Moore, Dane Scarlett and Hibernian also had a weekend off in the Scottish Premiership.

The 21-year-old striker will be looking to feature next weekend as Hibs welcome top side Hearts on Sunday. Scarlett has made 10 appearances north of the border with one assist and 463 minutes to his name. He has just a year left on his contract at Tottenham and a decision will likely be made this summer about what comes next for him after 27 senior appearances for the north London club.

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Will Lankshear & Jamie Donley (Oxford United)

Will Lankshear played 90 minutes and Jamie Donley 62 as Oxford United fell to a 1-0 defeat at Derby in the Championship on Saturday.

Oxford have just three games remaining to survive the drop. They currently sit in the final relegation spot, fifth points behind 21st-placed Blackburn Rovers but with a game in hand.

That game in hand comes on Tuesday night at home against play-off chasing Wrexham before another match at the Kassam Stadium against relegated bottom side Sheffield Wednesday. On the final day of the season they travel to promotion hopefuls Millwall.

Alfie Devine (Preston North End)

Lankshear and Donley's hopes were not helped by Alfie Devine and Preston falling to a disappointing defeat at home against strugglers West Brom at the weekend.

The 21-year-old midfielder started once again and played the full match to make it 42 Championship appearances, with eight goals and four assists from midfield with another two appearances in the Carabao Cup, plus an assist, and a substitute appearance in the FA Cup to make it 2,865 minutes in total so far in a great season for him.

Preston have an option to buy Devine this summer, thought to be around £4.5million, which is believed to be steep for the Championship side. He told Devine told BBC Lancashire last weekend that he would decide his next steps and take time to think about it.

Ashley Phillips (Stoke City)

Ashley Phillips missed out on Stoke's 2-0 defeat Wrexham on Saturday through suspension after picking up a second yellow card and a red card late in the 1-1 draw at home with Blackburn Rovers last weekend in the Championship.

The 20-year-old centre-back, who is on the shortlist for the EFL Championship's Young Player of the Season award, will be looking to return to the starting line-up for Tuesday night's home match against Millwall.

Phillips has played 41 games for Stoke this season, recording one assist and earning plenty of plaudits.

Yang Min-hyeok (Coventry)

Yang Min-hyeok can now include a promotion to the Premier League on his CV but was not involved as Coventry sealed it with their draw at Blackburn in the Championship.

Yang turned 20 in the week but was not able to celebrate his birthday with an appearance in a matchday squad, having been left out of the past 12 games by Frank Lampard.

In the first half of the season, the winger made 16 appearances for Portsmouth, scoring three goals with one assist, before switching to Lampard's table-toppers. However, it's been a horrendous loan move for the South Korean with just 29 minutes of football in the Championship for them across three matches. He at least can say he played for a team that won promotion to the Champions League.

Oliver Irow & George Abbott (Mansfield Town)

Oliver Irow got 11 minutes from the bench at the end of Mansfield's 2-2 draw at home against Luton in League One on Saturday night. The 19-year-old had been an unused substitute in midweek against Leyton Orient.

George Abbott however missed both matches as football.london understands the unfortunate 20-year-old midfielder has suffered a serious quad injury which will keep him out until pre-season, bringing a premature end to his campaign.

Yusuf Akhamrich (Bristol Rovers)

Yusuf Akhamrich's sensational first loan spell continues to get better as he came off the bench with 12 minutes and scored the winner for Bristol Rovers at Tranmere.

In keeping with his run of spectacular goals this season, this was another terrific solo effort from the 20-year-old winger. He drove at the home defence down the right before cutting inside past two players and curling a left-footed effort into the bottom left corner of goal, just inside the post in the 84th minute.

That brought a chorus of "Yusuf, Yusuf, Yusuf" from the jubilant travelling fans and made it seven league wins in a row for Rovers. Akhamrich now has six goals and two assists in 16 matches during his first loan move.

The Bristol Post's Will Murray handed Akhamrich a 7.5 in his player ratings with the write-up: "Another week, another game where Akhamrich comes off the bench and scores a decisive goal. You just knew that when he received the ball from Forde, he would deliver. The 20-year-old has so much talent and looks destined to play the game at a higher level."

Damola Ajayi (Bromley)

Damola Ajayi also gets to add a promotion to his CV like Yang but he at least came off the bench for the final moments as Bromley drew 0-0 with Cambridge United on Saturday afternoon and earned their rise to League One.

The 20-year-old winger has registered 30 appearances across his spells at Bromley and Doncaster Rovers in a big season of development across League One and Two.

Tyrese Hall (Notts County)

Tyrese Hall came off the bench for Notts County for the final 15 minutes of Saturday's 2-1 defeat at home to Barnet in League Two. The midfielder will be hoping to ensure stuttering County remain in the play-offs and join Ajayi's Bromley in League One next season.

The 20-year-old Jamaica international has scored eight goals and provided two assists across 1,818 minutes in 38 appearances since heading out of Tottenham on his first loan.

Alfie Dorrington (Salford City)

To complete the hat-trick of promotion chasers, Alfie Dorrington got 18 minutes in the second half for Salford as they won 2-1 at Oldham Athletic on Saturday in League Two.

The 20-year-old centre-back ended his bench role in the past five matches with those vital minutes from the bench and now has 10 appearances so far for City since switching from Aberdeen during the winter window.

Aaron Maguire (Hampton & Richmond Borough)

Aaron Maguire played every minute of his first three matches for National League South side Hampton & Richmond Borough but the 21-year-old goalkeeper has not been in their matchday squads since February.