Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice are just two of the stars to send James Maddison messages online after the Tottenham midfielder broke his silence following his injury. Maddison was taken off before half-time in the defeat to Chelsea on Monday with a knock to the ankle but it is now set to keep him out for a sustained period of time.

"The rollercoaster that is football unfortunately," he wrote on Instagram after missing Tottenham's 2-1 defeat to Wolves. "Will need a period of time away from the pitch to get this one right. See you in the new year Spurs fans, I’ll be back better & stronger for sure, promise you that [handshake emoji, white heart emoji]."

Maddison is now expected to miss over six weeks of action for club and country at a key stage of the season. He has already had to pull out of the England squad for upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers and will be sidelined as Ange Postecoglou attempts to shake off back-to-back defeats for Spurs in the Premier League.

"Madders, a lot worse than we thought," Postecoglou said on Friday ahead of the trip to Molineux. "He came off with the ankle injury, but the next day wasn’t great so we sent him off for a scan. So again not great for him and probably into the new year for him."

This is just one of the issues for the Australian head coach after Richarlison had surgery on a pelvis injury and Micky van de Ven picked up his own damaging issue and is also set to be out until at least the start of 2024. Manor Solomon and Ivan Perisic have already been ruled out for a large portion of the season themselves whilst Ryan Sessegnon is yet to return from troubles of his own.

Destiny Udogie and Cristian Romero were suspended for the late collapse in the Midlands, leaving a threadbare squad to now compete in the league and FA Cup when Spurs enter the new year. For now, though the attention is on Maddison and he has been given some big support from some of his fellow countrymen.

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Rice, who played in the Arsenal side that beat Burnley on Saturday, wrote in reply: "My brother! Speedy recovery [red heart]." Bellingham, meanwhile, simply put a crying face emoji and a heart made out of hands emoji.

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Completing the midfield bandwagon, Jordan Henderson sent him a praying emoji and a red heart. Manchester United defender Harry Maguire added another two red hearts whilst former Leicester City teammate Wilfried Ndidi sent a heart as well.

Rapper AJ Tracey wrote: "Speedy recovery bro [black heart emoji]." Spurs now have a two-week break before facing Aston Villa in north London. Maddison's Three Lions colleagues will be taking on Malta and North Macedonia with a safe passage to next summer's European Championships in Germany already assured.