Update: Son Heung-Min to undergo surgery for facial fracture

This article has been updated from its original version.

All of Tottenham Hotspur Nation held its collective breath when Son Heung-Min slowly walked off of the pitch and down the tunnel in Marseille on Tuesday night. Sonny had just taken a heavy shoulder to the face from Olympique Marseille defender Chancel Mbemba, and while after several minutes of treatment on the pitch he was able to walk off under his own power, he did not look in a good way. Celebratory team photos from the locker room showed Sonny with what looked like a severely swollen eye.

We still haven’t had any official statement from the club on the extent of Sonny’s injury, but we do have some insider info as reported by Sami Mokbel at the Daily Mail. Mokbel writes that the club is worried he broke some orbital bones in his face, but the severity of the break could go a long way in determining not only whether he’ll play for Spurs this weekend but also whether he’ll be an option for South Korea in the World Cup later on this month.

Sportsmail has learned there were fears immediately after the game that Son suffered a break of the zygomatic bone on the left side of his face in the brutal aerial challenge during Spurs’ crucial Champions League triumph on Tuesday night.

However, even if the Son has suffered a fracture, the injury wouldn’t automatically rule him out of the clash against Jurgen Klopp’s team.

If it is a clean break, then Son could be fitted with a protective mask to enable him to play against the Merseyside club this weekend.

If any fracture is more complex, then playing with a face mask may not be possible. That scenario, Son could have consequences for Son’s participation at the World Cup.

Gulp! That’s scary, especially since we don’t know which of the two scenarios are going to play out here. And there’s more, potentially good news — Son’s also being checked for a concussion, but the club thinks despite potentially breaking bones in his face, he might not have picked one up. If he did, however, Premier League concussion protocols would require that he be out for six days to recover, ruling him out of this weekend’s match at Liverpool.

So — the good scenario is that Sonny either hasn’t broken his (lovely, beautiful) face or that it’s a “good” break that would allow him to play football. The medium scenario is that either “good break” is negated by a concussion which rules him out of Liverpool, but is good for his recovery. The bad scenario is that he has a nasty, complex facial fracture, which would put him out for potentially months and would keep him out of the World Cup.

We’ll find out soon enough. But I know which one I’m rooting for.

UPDATE: Well, like what usually happens, the club issued an update 10 minutes after I posted an article. And it’s not great news.

We can confirm that Heung-Min Son will undergo surgery to stabilise a fracture around his left eye.

The South Korea international suffered the injury during the first half of Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League victory at Olympique Marseille.

Following surgery, Son will commence rehabilitation with our medical staff and we shall update supporters further in due course.

UGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH. Surgery implies that it’s not a “simple break” and that Son will be out for a while, but to be clear we don’t yet know what the prognosis or timeline for his recovery is. We will need to wait for further updates from the club about that.

But this does mean that any hope that he could potentially play in this Sunday’s match against Liverpool (alluded above) is out the window. Think we can safely say that won’t happen. For all other speculation, it’s probably best if we wait for more information.

I hope his plastic surgeon doesn’t leave him with a scar.