Jan Vertonghen will have MRI on ankle

Tottenham defender Jan Vertonghen will have an MRI on his ankle in Hong Kong tonight after he was injured in the friendly match against Sunderland. Vertonghen landed awkwardly while going up for an arial challenge against Stephane Sessegnon and was stretchered off.

While the injury didn't seem as bad as it first appeared, Andre Villas-Boas was asked about Vertonghen's prognosis after the match and had this to say, according to the Mail and website The Injury League:

"He might have sprained the ligaments in his left ankle...

We need to have an MRI to see the full extent. But there is some range of movement in the ankle so we hope that it won't be that long. We hope he will be back for the first game of the season...

I was concerned [about the conditions] but what can you do? It isn't great. The pitch is what it is, it's always like that at this tournament. You can't change the conditions. They are extremely poor."

I'm not a doctor, and I don't play one on TV, either. The fact that Verts looked willing to go back in the match seems promising, but you can't rule out a ligament tear at this stage either. It's too soon to say either way. Hopefully it's just a minor sprain, an MRI will bear that out, and he'll be back before too long. As soon as we get more information, we'll update.