Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag admits he is unsure about the severity of Donny van de Beek's injury and is awaiting further information from the club's medical staff.
Van de Beek, 25, was handed a rare start in the Premier League on Tuesday evening as United took on Bournemouth at Old Trafford.
While the home side ran out comfortable 3-0 winners, the final result was soured by a serious injury to Van de Beek.
The Netherlands international was forced off shortly before half-time after being hit with a crunching tackle by Bournemouth defender Marcos Senesi.
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Worrying replays showed that Van de Beek had hyperextended his knee during the collision.
Fears Van de Beek could miss up to a year
Medical expert Ben Dinnery was concerned by Van de Beek's injury and believes it has the potential to rule him out for up to a year.
He told Football Insider: "I cast my mind back to both Zlatan Ibrahimovich and Kurt Zouma's injuries a few years ago.
"The knee hyperextended and then you also see the knee bend inwards. When you add the external force and the power from the challenge – it didn't look great.
"Internally, Man United will now be carrying out a number of tests to evaluate the player, checking the integrity of the ligaments.
"The ACL is the obvious one – the Lachman test. It will be a good indication of if there is any damage, and they'll also check for a fracture of the bone as well as any damage to the posterior cruciate ligament.
"Given the force of the challenge and the mechanism of the injury, they don't usually happen in isolation.
"There's potential involvement with the MCL [medial collateral ligament] and even some meniscus damage as well.
"Imaging will confirm the extent of the problem and they’ll hope the results come back better than initially feared, but I suspect he’ll have a lengthy spell on the sidelines."
Ten Hag: Investigations are ongoing
United manager Ten Hag has said he still waiting to learn the true extent of Van de Beek’s injury.
When asked on Thursday if he had an update, Ten Hag said: "Not yet. We are still doing investigations at the moment.
"It's a knee injury and at the moment we have it [the information] clear, we will bring it [to you]."
However, Ten Hag had more positive news on Anthony Martial, confirming the French forward was available to face Everton in the FA Cup third round on Friday after recovering from a knock sustained in the win over Bournemouth.
Topics: Donny van de Beek, Manchester United, Erik Ten Hag, Football, Premier League
Rory O'Callaghan