Ipswich Town youngster Tristan Nydam has been ruled out for six months after it was confirmed he broke his ankle at Notts County on Tuesday night.
The 19-year-old, who had been pushing for a starting spot at left-back during pre-season, suffered the injury during the second half of Town's 1-1 draw at Meadow Lane and spent the night in hospital in Nottingham.
He is now back in Ipswich, with the club confirming the teenager will be out until the start of 2020 and will require surgery after also suffering ligament damage in the incident.
"Tristan has broken his right ankle and there is ligament damage as well," Town physio Matt Byard said.
MORE: Nydam blow is the latest in a long line of injuries threatening to impact Town's start to season
"He is now back in Ipswich after being taken to hospital to be assessed and is in a cast.
"He will have a MRI scan to look at the extent of the ligament damage and will need surgery when the swelling settles down.
"We will know more next week but with this type of injury, you are looking at a six month timeframe."
Town boss Paul Lambert described the incident as 'horrific viewing' on Tuesday night but placed no blame on the part of County's Dion Kelly-Evans following the incident, which left many of Nydam's team-mates visibly shaken.
"There's no blame attached to the lad from Notts County, it was just a real unfortunate incident," Lambert said immediately after the game.
"We don't know the true extent of the damage but it looks like he's dislocated his ankle. We'll just have to wait and see how long it's going to be.
"He's gone to hospital. It wasn't nice viewing but there's no blame attached.
MORE: Player reports: How the Ipswich Town players performed at Notts County
"He'd been playing well but that's football. It's a contact sport but it's unfortunate that these things happen."
Nydam's is the latest name to be added to a growing injury list.
Teddy Bishop (knee), Jon Nolan (calf), Toto Nsiala (hamstring), Jack Lankester (back), Gwion Edwards (groin), Alan Judge (wrist) and Freddie Sears (knee) are all currently sidelined, while Jordan Roberts missed the draw at Meadow Lane with a slight knock.
He is likely to return for Town's final pre-season game with Cambridge this weekend but, with youngsters Ben Morris (knee) and Ben Folami (Achilles) also out, Lambert could conceivibly start the season without 10 players.
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