Tottenham have confirmed that Wilson Odobert will need surgery after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament when he hobbled off against Newcastle on Tuesday.
The forward, who joined Spurs for £30million from Burnley in the summer of 2024, was named in the starting XI for the game, which would be Thomas Frank’s final match in charge before his sacking on Wednesday morning.
He managed 35 minutes on the right side of attack before limping off and being replaced by Mathys Tel.
There was concern for his fitness after the game and on Thursday the club confirmed: ‘Wilson Odobert has sustained a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.
Wilson will see a specialist next week before undergoing surgery, and will then commence his rehabilitation with our medical staff.
‘We’re all behind you, Wilson.’
The 21-year-old joins a lengthy injury list at the club, which already includes long-term absentees James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski, Mohammed Kudus and Ben Davies.
The likes of Rodrigo Bentancur, Lucas Bergvall, Kevin Danso and Destiny Udogie are also all out of action with injuries.
Tottenham star Wilson Odobert (left) was forced off during the game against Newcastle
It led to captain Cristian Romero taking aim at the club hierarchy last week, taking to social media to send a message and seemingly ask for more signings.
Soon after the transfer window closed, Romero spoke with reference to the club’s fightback to draw 2-2 against Manchester City in the Premier League, a game in which he came off at half-time feeling unwell.
He wrote: ‘Great effort from all my teammates yesterday, they were incredible.
‘I wanted to be available to help them even though I wasn’t feeling well, especially since we only had 11 players available – unbelievable but true, and disgraceful.
‘We’ll keep showing up and taking responsibility to turn this around, working hard and staying together. All that’s left is to thank all of you for being there and for always supporting us, the fans.’
Romero, though, was given a four-game suspension after being sent off against Manchester United – his second red card of the season – and has served one of them so far.
Now, Odobert has added to the issues surrounding numbers, with young players James Roswell, Jun’au Byfield, Luca Williams-Barnett and Callum Olusei all in the squad against Newcastle. None of them were used.
Odobert has played 33 games in all competitions this season, scoring twice and picking up a further five assists.
In the Premier League, 10 of his 26 appearances have been starts.
Frank had said of his injury on Tuesday night: ‘I hope it’s nothing too serious, but I don’t know what it can be. I hope it’s not a serious injury to a 20-year-old young player.’
