Heung-Min Son, who suffered the injury in Tuesday’s 2-1 victory against Marseille, will have surgery to stabilize a fracture around his left eye.
The injury to the South Korean attacker occurred during the first half of the comeback victory for Spurs in France, which meant they won their group and advanced to the Champions League knockout stage.
Spurs have given no timeframe on the 30-year-old’s return, with the World Cup starting on November 20. Tottenham face Liverpool, live on Sky Sports Premier League, on Sunday.
A statement issued by the club on Wednesday evening read: “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.
The club say that Son will begin a rehabilitation programme with their medical staff after the operation and they intend to update supporters on the time-frame of his absence in due course. They did not want to say on Wednesday night whether he was out of the World Cup because it will depend on the surgery and how his recovery goes.
South Korea have been drawn in a World Cup group with Uruguay, Ghana and Portugal.
They kick off against Uruguay on 24 November. Son is arguably the most high-profile Asian footballer in the world, the captain and talisman for his country, and South Korea would be devastated were he to be unavailable.
