£40m Newcastle United Premier League transfer target suffers major injury blow - will miss at least 11 matches

Tottenham Hotspur star James Maddison has been ruled out until 2024 following an ankle injury during the 4-1 defeat to Chelsea last week.

Maddison will miss at least 11 games due to injury, including Spurs' home match against Newcastle United on December 10 (4:30pm kick-off) as well as England's Euro 2024 qualifiers against Malta and North Macedonia.

Maddison was heavily linked with a move to Newcastle following Leicester City's relegation last season before Spurs swooped for his signature over the summer. The Magpies opted to sign Maddison's former Foxes team-mate Harvey Barnes instead, who is also currently sidelined with a foot injury.

Tottenham will also be without Micky Van de Ven and Richarlison for the upcoming Premier League matches after the international break.

Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou said: "Micky has a fairly significant hamstring injury, so without putting firm timelines on it, at least a couple of months out for him, so we’re looking at the new year for him.

On Maddison, Postecoglou added: “Similar [to Van de Ven], he's got a quite significant sore ankle injury and was sent for scans, it wasn’t great, he’ll be out for a period of time, probably into the new year as well.”

Despite being the early pace-setters after 10 Premier League matches, Spurs have now lost their last two - dropping to fourth in the table.

Newcastle did the double over the North London side last season, winning 2-1 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium before a 6-1 demolition at St James' Park which saw The Magpies lead 5-0 inside 21 minutes.

While Spurs combat their own injuries, Newcastle face an injury crisis of their own with 10 players currently nursing various issues.