Town have confirmed that midfielder Andre Dozzell has torn his cruciate knee ligament as had been feared and will face nine months on the sidelines.
The 18-year-old suffered the injury shortly before half-time during Saturday’s 1-0 home victory over Birmingham City, collapsing to the turf in evident pain as he battled for a bouncing ball with visitors’ striker Che Adams following a corner.
Dozzell is expected to undergo surgery next week and will be out for the rest of the season.
"I saw Dozzer yesterday and he was very down. He is bound to be,” Town boss Mick McCarthy told the club site.
"It’s the season out for him and it’s very disappointing, for us but especially for Dozzer. He will get looked after well by our medical staff and we wish him as quick a recovery as possible.”
Speaking earlier this afternoon, ahead of Dozzell undergoing a scan which revealed the extent of his injury, McCarthy said there was little he could say to cheer him up when he saw him yesterday.
"I said, ‘You’re 18, if it is 12 months, and let’s hope it’s not, but if is you’ll be 19, you play until 35, so you’ve 16 more years to play.
"But it doesn’t feel like that when you're 18, does it? It’s only when you’re an old man like me and you’ve got a bit of perspective on life that you realise there’s a lot in front of you.
"But he’ll get the best treatment, he’ll get well looked after and whatever it is he’ll be back as quick as he possibly can.”
ðŸ™ðŸ¼ tunnel vision , i will only come back stronger & hungrier than ever https://t.co/mWAqXp0zfL– AD23 (@andredozzell) August 7, 2017
He added: "There’s a kick in the backside waiting for somebody in football, it appears every single day around every corner.
"You couldn’t envisage that happening having had such a great summer, winning the Euros with the England U19s and then coming back and you could instantly see it had given him something.
"The way he trained and I think the fact that Flynn Downes and Tristan Nydam were in and around the team had an effect as well and I loved it, he just rose to that challenge. So, really sad because he did play well on Saturday.”