James Maddison facing MONTHS on sidelines as Tottenham star’s injury ‘a lot worse’ than expected

TOTTENHAM have confirmed star man James Maddison will be sidelined until the new year after discovering his injury is 'a lot worse' than first expected.

The ex-Leicester City attacker suffered the blow during Spurs’ 4-1 home defeat to Chelsea on Monday.

The 26-year-old was substituted in the first half after picking up a problem with his ankle.

Fears of the severity of the damage seemed to have been allayed when England boss Gareth Southgate named him in his latest squad when he announced it on Thursday.

However, Tottenham announced earlier that Maddison has withdrawn from Three Lions duty and will stay at the club to continue his recovery.

He has undergone a series of examinations this week to try and establish the extent of the damage on his ankle.

We revealed that there were growing concerns that Maddison was facing a lengthy spell out.

And now Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou has provided the grim update on his £45m summer signing in his pre-match press conference ahead of tomorrow’s clash at Wolves.

He said: “Madders a lot worse than we first thought. Was bad the next day. Again into the New Year with him.”

The prospect of being without Maddison, who has shone for the North London club so far this term, long-term will come as a bitter blow to the Aussie amid his growing list of absentees.

Fellow forward Richarlison is already sidelined after he revealed he was suffering “unbearable pain” from his hospital bed after surgery to rectify a pelvis problem. 

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But Micky van de Ven is set to avoid surgery after his hamstring injury but is still unlikely to play again this year.

The defender, who is 22 and joined last summer for £43m from Wolfsburg, was another casualty of Monday's dramatic derby against Chelsea at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

He, Maddison and Richarlison now join Ivan Perisic, Manor Solomon and Ryan Sessegnon on the sidelines for high-flying Spurs.

Postecoglou also heads to Molineux without both Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie after their sending-offs against Chelsea.

Romero will be suspended for the next three games while Udogie has been issued with a one-match suspension.

Postecoglou added: “There's a fair bit happened after Monday night. Micky with a hamstring injury we knew was fairly significant. We're looking at a couple of months into the new year.

“Richarlison the operation that we had kind of scheduled anyway with the international break. With him a month out.

“We've got a couple of suspensions. Ben Davies is back and available. Pedro [Porro] is fine, he's been back in training.

“It's maybe the first time in my career where we've had such a disruption from one game.”