Tottenham ace Micky van de Ven breaks down in tears after worrying injury in Man City clash

Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven broke down in tears after being injured against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup. The 23-year-old was chosen to start the match, but saw his involvement come to an abrupt end within the first 20 minutes.

Van de Ven was clearly in pain after falling under Savinho's challenge and needed treatment on the pitch. He eventually managed to get back to his feet, but he moved gingerly while straining his left hamstring.

It quickly became apparent that he would not be able to continue, forcing Tottenham into an early change. Van de Ven looked distraught as he limped straight into the tunnel, the Dutchman in tears and consoled by his teammates.

Alan Smith, the former Arsenal striker, was a commentator for Sky Sports and said: “This partnership with [Cristian] Romero is the foundation of the team. If he's not available, it will be a big blow.”

Meanwhile, former Everton midfielder Leon Osman was covering the match on BBC Radio 5 Live and insisted Ange Postecoglou made the right decision in replacing Van de Ven as quickly as possible.

“You don’t take any chances with the hamstring,” Osman said. “They can't get better, they can only get worse. If you look at this Spurs team at the moment, Micky van de Ven is probably the only player Ange won't want to lose.”

It remains to be seen whether Van de Ven will be out for a while following his early exit against City. The defender has suffered several injuries since joining Tottenham from Wolfsburg at the start of last season.

Postecoglou will certainly hope Van de Ven makes a speedy recovery, with the Australian calling him a “special footballer” after excelling in Tottenham's big win over Everton earlier this season.

“Exceptional, he’s a pretty special footballer.” said Postecoglou. “Last year when we had four operational defenders we were a pretty convincing team, but we also know we can't keep putting them on the line.

“With Romero, Micky and Destiny [Udogie]They're not in top form at the moment and they all missed pre-season. So we knew it for two or three weeks, we saw it last week around 60 minutes, they really started to get tired and you just have to be very careful with them.

“If we can get through the international break, then once the midweek games start we can start to rotate a little bit and, you know, because we need them at the peak of their performance, because when they are like that, they are exceptional footballers.”