Thomas Frank has suggested an injury sustained by midfielder James Maddison in Tottenham Hotspur's pre-season friendly against Newcastle United on Sunday could be a "bad" one.
After coming on as a second-half substitute in the 1-1 draw in Seoul, South Korea, Maddison seemed to overextend his knee and immediately signalled to the Spurs bench that he was in trouble. He then fell to the ground and was taken off on a stretcher, with the midfielder and his team-mates looking distressed. He was seen leaving the stadium on crutches.
It somewhat tarnished an emotional day for Spurs, for whom Son Heung-min was playing possibly his final match, after announcing on Saturday his intention to leave the club this summer.
"Sometimes in life and football things can be both beautiful and brutal," Spurs head coach Frank told reporters post-match.
"That's what we got today. It looks like with Madders a bad injury and then on the other side unbelievable scenes for Son from his team-mates and the respect from the Newcastle players [who gave Son a guard of honour].
"We're pretty sure it was the same knee he [Maddison] injured before."
Maddison missed the end of last season with a knee injury that ruled him out of Spurs' UEFA Europa League final win over Manchester United.
It means Spurs could look to bolster further their squad in the transfer window, which remains open until 1 September. Their main attacking signing so far is the addition of winger Mohammed Kudus from West Ham United, but they missed out on Nottingham Forest midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White, who has signed a new deal at Forest after being heavily linked with Spurs. They have also signed on loan Bayern Munich defensive midfielder Joao Palhinha.
Spurs are also without midfielder Dejan Kulusevski to a long-term injury, while left-back Destiny Udogie has been left out of their Asian tour due to injury.