Tottenham forward Heung-min Son suffers injury blow on international duty

Heung-Min Son's preparations for the 2017-18 Premier League season look set to be disrupted after the Tottenham Hotspur striker suffered an arm injury while representing South Korea during a dramatic 3-2 World Cup qualifying loss to Qatar on Tuesday (13 June) night.

Son is said to have landed awkwardly following a first-half aerial duel with Mohammed Musa and received medical treatment at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium before eventually being replaced in the 34th minute by Keun-Ho Lee. The Korea Herald report that the Korea Football Association initially suspected a broken wrist, only for a KFA official to subsequently announce that the player had actually sustained a fractured forearm.

They further claim that, rather than remain in Doha, Son will travel with the team in a cast on Wednesday before undergoing further tests in his South Korea homeland. Uli Stielike's side, who currently sit second in Group A in the third round of AFC World Cup qualification, do not play again until August, when they host Iran and travel to Uzbekistan.

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino will hope that Son is able to make a swift recovery. Having initially been linked with a possible return to the Bundesliga with Wolfsburg or Schalke last summer, the former Hamburg and Bayer Leverkusen forward followed teammates Harry Kane and Dele Alli in notching in excess of 20 goals in 2016-17. It is the first time in Spurs history that three players have reached that landmark across all competitions in a single season.

A timeline for Son's recovery has not yet been established and it remains to be seen how much - if any - of pre-season he will miss. The 24-year-old recently accompanied Ben Davies, Kevin Wimmer and Kyle Walker on a club trip to Seoul before scoring in a 4-1 friendly defeat of Kitchee SC in Hong Kong.

Tottenham travel to the International Champions Cup in the United States next month, where they are scheduled to play against Paris Saint-Germain, AS Roma and Manchester City. Last season's runners-up begin the new top-flight campaign away to newly-promoted Newcastle United on 12 August before hosting champions Chelsea at Wembley.