Andre Gomes will miss the rest of Everton’s season after suffering a broken ankle.
Gomes was taken by ambulance to Aintree Hospital with the injury sustained from a challenge by Son Heung-min in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Tottenham.
The midfielder, who returned to Goodison Park permanently last summer, is set to undergo surgery on the fracture dislocation to his right ankle on Monday.
Everton are yet to confirm the length of Gomes’ expected lay-off but it is almost certain to sideline him for the remainder of the current 2019/20 campaign.
It is the third long-term injury that Marco Silva’s side have suffered this season, following setbacks to winger Bernard and midfielder Jean-Philippe Gbamin.
Several of Gomes’ teammates appeared visibily distraught in the wake of Son’s fatal tackle while a number attempted to comfort him on the Goodison turf.
“Everybody is sad inside. Some players, they nearly cried,” revealed Cenk Tosun, who later scored Everton’s equaliser.
“He was in shock, his eyes were open so big. He was like crying, shouting and screaming.
“I just tried to hold him and speak to him. I tried to tell him to stay calm. We couldn’t understand him.”
Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino also paid tribute to Everton captain Seamus Coleman for consoling Son in the visitors’ dressing room after the match.
He said: “The players from Everton that were fantastic, I want to say thank you.
“The captain, Coleman, came to the dressing room to console Sonny.
“Now it’s very calm. I want to say thank you to the players and of course Coleman who came in on behalf of the Everton squad.
“We feel so sorry for Andre, but that is football. That is one of the consequences.
“It was never the intention of Sonny to go and make this type of tackle that are so bad, only go to challenge for the ball, and touch leg with leg and Andre land.
“I think what happened you know. It’s terrible for him, his family and Everton. Only we can show our support to him and to Everton too.”