Micky van de Ven was left in tears as he was forced off injured early on in Tottenham's Carabao Cup clash with Manchester City.
Van de Ven appeared to suffer a hamstring injury after making a challenge and he was quickly replaced with Destiny Udogie. The Dutchman missed several months of action with a hamstring injury last season and he was absolutely distraught as he left the field.
Van de Ven could be seen in tears as he hobbled off the pitch, before covering his face with his shirt. "You don't take any chances with hamstrings," former Everton midfielder Leon Osman warned on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra.
"They can't get better, they can only get worse. If you're looking at this Spurs team at the moment Micky van de Ven is arguably the one player Ange will not want to lose."
The 23-year-old was filling in at left-back and an extended absence will come as a huge blow for manager Ange Postecoglou. He has been absolutely delighted with Van de Ven's impact since he joined Spurs from Wolfsburg last summer.
"With Micky, fair to say he developed late but very quickly," Postecoglou said when asked about Van de Ven earlier this month. "Because I think even at Volendam, there was a period when they were unsure about him.
"You could tell once physically he grew and the kind of player he was, his journey went very quickly at Volendam and the year he had in the Bundesliga he adjusted really well. For us last year he was outstanding in his first year in the Premier League.
"Obviously he had an injury which set him back a little bit but he's growing all the time, maturing and I think he will become more of an influence at national team level. He's now played a couple of games at left-back, left centre-back.
"The more he plays with the national team will give him even more belief but he's going very well and I'm sure he'll be an important member of our team but also the Dutch international team."