James Maddison’s injury marred Heung-min Son’s Tottenham farewell.
Not long after Son left the pitch for the last time in a Spurs shirt on Sunday, Maddison was carried off on a stretcher with what Thomas Frank said was a “bad” knee injury.
Maddison immediately put his head in his hands, was visibly distressed and left the stadium on crutches. He will be assessed back in England but looks to be facing another spell out.
His latest injury is a nightmare for Spurs, who were already short of creative options given Dejan Kulusevski is injured and they and missed out on signing Morgan Gibbs-White.
Maddison and Kulusevski were their go-to creative outlets under Ange Postecoglou and Frank now faces a big headache ahead of the new season.
Maddison’s injury shines a light on the failed move for Gibbs-White, who looked set to join but Spurs failed to active his release clause he signed a new contract at Nottingham Forest.
Lucas Bergvall, Pape Matar Sarr and Archie Gray are all young midfielders with bright futures, but none are a proven, reliable source of creativity.
Bergvall has shown glimpses of attacking verve but not enough to suggest he is the answer to the problems at the tip of midfield just yet. Gray and Sarr are deeper-lying midfielders.
There will be more onus on the likes of new signing Mohammed Kudus and Brennan Johnson to produce from wide positions.
But Spurs could be forced back into the transfer market in the final month of the window.
The influence of Brentford’s Mikkel Damsgaard, who hit double figures for assists in the Premier League last season, highlights how integral a creative midfielder is to Frank.
This is not an issue Spurs can ignore.
Despite a positive start to life under Frank which has included an impressive pre-season win over Arsenal, Spurs now have a big problem to address ahead of the new season.
