Giovani Lo Celso's hip injury will keep him out of action for Tottenham Hotspur for almost two months but how does that affect who pays his salary and his option to buy from Real Betis?
Spurs signed the 23-year-old Argentine on loan from the La Liga club in August and he had only made three brief appearances from the bench before picking up the injury on international duty.
Lo Celso told reporters after the friendly against Chile last week that there was no problem and it was only a knock which forced him out of the action early in the second half.
The Argentina national team staff then announced that he had picked up a groin injury but when the midfielder returned back to Hotspur Way, rather than playing in his country's next match against Mexico, Spurs' medical staff found that it was a hip problem.
The club announced that Lo Celso would not return to first team training until late October.
As the player was not injured during club time, instead during games in the FIFA international match calendar - which include friendlies and competitive matches - Spurs are able to claim compensation from the FIFA Club Protection Programme as the injury will keep their player out of action for more than 28 days.
A maximum of 7.5m euros (£6.6m) can be claimed and FIFA state that "the compensation payable is based solely on the fixed salary that the football club pays directly to the football player as his employer".
The FIFA payment stops on the date on which the injured football player is able to resume full team training activities and/or participate in matches.
So that means that while medical treatment costs are not covered, the player's wages are until he returns to training.
Spotrac estimate that Lo Celso's wages are £70,000-a-week, which would mean that with the player injured on September 6, if he were to not return to training until October 25, that would be seven weeks out and would require FIFA to pay Tottenham £490,000 in compensation to cover those missed weeks.
Some Spurs fans have also wondered how it affects the option to buy Lo Celso from Real Betis, should the worst happen and the player misses a much longer period of time. There has been some confusion over whether Spurs have an option to buy or an obligation to buy.
football.london understands that Spurs currently do have an option to purchase the Argentine rather than an obligation. However, should Lo Celso meet certain requirements at Tottenham during this season then that will trigger an obligation to buy.
Of course a longer period out would affect his ability to meet those requirements, but the club do expect their new signing to be back in training next month.
