Tottenham have been dealt a major blow after defender Destiny Udogie was ruled out for between six and ten weeks through injury, according to club insider Paul O'Keefe.
The Lilywhites have been decimated by defensive injuries in recent weeks with Cristian Romero and Micky Van De Ven hobbling off in the defeat to Chelsea, while Radu Dragusin, Ben Davies and Udogie have all picked up issues since.
Dragusin was rushed back for the 2-2 draw with Wolves most recently, but Udogie will have no such hope of returning any time soon with agent O'Keefe revealing he is set to be out until March.
Udogie was forced off against Wolves clutching his hamstring, and after undergoing scans it has been estimated that he will be unavailable for between six and ten weeks, which could take him all the way through until mid-March.
Djed Spence has been forced to fill in on the left in recent weeks, while Sergio Reguilon has been drafted in from the cold due to the current injury crisis that Ange Postecoglou is facing at the back.
The Italy international will now certainly miss games against Newcastle, Tamworth, Arsenal, Everton, Hoffenheim, Leicester, Elfsborg, Brentford and the two Carabao Cup semi-final clashes with Liverpool.
But depending on his recovery he could also miss any fourth-round FA Cup clash as well as further fixtures against Man Utd, Ipswich, Man City, Bournemouth and Fulham in a major blow to the north London outfit.
Ben Davies recently suffered a setback in training in his own recovery from a hamstring problem which has delayed his return to the side, while Romero and Van de Ven are unlikely to return until later in January.
That leaves a huge whole in the squad at the back, which already has teenager Archie Gray filling in as a centre-back despite playing most of his career games as a right-back or central midfielder.
Goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario is already a long-term absentee with a broken ankle, while Richarlison and Wilson Odobert have also missed much of the season with hamstring troubles.