Tottenham have been handed a major scare after defender Jan Vertonghen suffered a suspected ankle injury during shocking playing conditions in Hong Kong today.

Spurs had to play the first match of the Barclays Asia Trophy, an event organised by the Premier League, on a waterlogged pitch due to torrential rain before and during the clash against Sunderland.

Vertonghen suffered the injury just six minutes after coming on as a substitute at the start of the second half. The Belgium international landed awkwardly after winning a header against Stephane Sessegnon.

Vertonghen received treatment for four minutes on the pitch before he was taken to the sidelines and replaced by Zeki Fryers.

It could be a serious blow for Spurs considering their first game of the season at Crystal Palace is less than four weeks away and he is one of their best defenders.

Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas said: "It seems like he twisted his ankle so he might have strained some ligaments, but hopefully with not too much damage because he still has a good range of movement.

"It has swollen up a little bit, but we hope it is nothing very serious and with the margin of time before the first game of the season, we might still see him back before that.

"It was impossible to play football unfortunately because the conditions were extremely poor."

He added: "I was concerned (about the conditions) but what can you do? The pitch is what it is, it's always like that at this tournament. The conditions are poor, they're always like that.

"You can’t change the conditions. They are extremely poor.

"He might have sprained the ligaments in his left ankle. We need to have an MRI to see the full extent."

Questions are already being asked as to why referee Liu Kwok Man allowed the game to start, as conditions were bad enough for the kick-off to be delayed by 30 minutes.

The match was also reduced to 80 minutes in order to minimise the delay to the second match, which followed afterwards between Manchester City and South China.

A spokesman for the Premier League said: “It was a decision by the match officials for the game to go ahead. Player safety is of paramount concern and if there was any doubt in that regard, the game would not have gone ahead.”

To make matters worse for Spurs, they suffered a 3-1 defeat despite Gylfi Sigurdsson putting them in front in the 28th minute. Gareth Bale was unavailable due to a strained buttock and Sunderland hit back with goals from Cabral, Wes Brown and David Karlsson to make it a miserable occasion for boss Andre Villas-Boas.

Bale’s absence led to more speculation in Spain that he is trying to force a move to Real Madrid, but Standard Sport understands that for family reasons, among others, he wants to commit to Tottenham for at least one more season.

Meanwhile, Spurs have been told they will not be able to sign Valencia striker Roberto Soldado for less than £25.8million.