Ange Postecoglou has confirmed Tottenham Hotspur will finish their season without injured midfielder Lucas Bergvall.
Bergvall recently inked a new contract after establishing himself as a key player in Postecoglou's side, but fans were left sweating when news of a potentially serious injury emerged on social media earlier this week.
The teenage midfielder was spotted with his ankle in a boot and walking with the aid of crutches ahead of the 3-1 win over Bodo/Glimt in the first leg of the Europa League semi-finals, and Postecoglou has now confirmed Bergvall will not be seen again this season.
"Lucas looks like the injury is significant enough to probably keep him out for the rest of the season," Postecoglou told the media. "He just tweaked the ligaments in his ankle, so he's out.
"Something you see all the time. It wasn't a tackle, he was on his own. He just went to turn and his ankle gave way. It's just one of those things. Similarly to Dom [Solanke] and a couple of others we've had at training where just things that happen."
This was not the first time that Spurs, who must now battle to win the Europa League without one of Postecoglou's most influential players, have seen a significant injury story leaked on social media. The boss fumed at an alleged "mole" last month and reignited his frustrations after confirming Bergvall's absence.
"It's not helpful to our club," he explained. "It's just anybody now. They can literally just say whatever they like.
"Lucas was devastated. He didn't want to deal with it or we didn't want to make it public, not as much about the opposition but to give him the time to process it.
"We wanted to protect him more than anything else, but those kinds of levels of decency and respect don't exist anymore."
READ THE LATEST TOTTENHAM NEWS, TRANSFER RUMOURS & GOSSIP
feed
