Tottenham centre-back Davinson Sanchez has been confirmed with a hamstring strain ahead of the Premier League clash with Chelsea on Saturday.
The bad news was revealed by the official Tottenham Twitter page ahead of Pochettino speaking.
Pochettino said there is a hope that he will return to training before the end of the year.
However, as ESPN and Sky Sports injury expert Ben Dinnery reported, he may not play again in 2018.
Mousa Dembele will continue his recovery from an ankle injury at @Aspetar in Qatar. Danny Rose [groin] has entered the final phase of his rehab but it looks as though Saturday will come too soon for Trippier. Meanwhile, Sanchez [hamstring] 'may' not play again this year. #COYS
— Ben Dinnery (@BenDinnery) November 22, 2018
OPINION
They say what the lord giveth with one hand, he taketh with the other, and that was certainly the case for Tottenham after their pre-match press conference on Thursday. It was confirmed that Jan Vertonghen was back in training and in contention for the match against Chelsea on Saturday, and that comes ahead of schedule and could see a return to the safe pairing with Toby Alderweireld. However, Davinson Sanchez was confirmed with a hamstring strain after scans and that puts him out of action for a considerable amount of time. That gives Pochettino a tough balancing act this weekend. Juan Foyth has only just arrived back after a gruelling trip to Argentina, but the last thing Poch will want to do is risk Vertonghen suffering a relapse. With Sanchez out that would leave Tottenham struggling on bare bones ahead of a really tough six weeks when they play lots of games, including two must-win Champions League games against Inter Milan and Barcelona. The news that Sanchez might not play again until 2019 is very bad for Tottenham.