Nathaniel Chalobah's England breakthrough will be put on hold after the Watford midfielder suffered a freak knee injury in training.

The 22-year-old who was called into Gareth Southgate's squad last month following his £5m move from Chelsea is on crutches with his knee in a brace.

Watford are refusing to put a timescale on the injury but are sending him for another scan this week after he missed Saturday's 2-1 win at Swansea.

A freak knee injury has put Watford midfielder Nathaniel Chalobah's England career on hold

The 22-year-old made an encouraging start to his career at Watford before suffering an injury

No team-mate was understood to be involved when he suffered the injury at their London Colney base.

Chalobah was named in Southgate's last squad to face Slovakia and Malta in August ahead of the 2018 World Cup this summer.

Though he did not play, he was expected to be picked again when the England manager names his squad on Thursday for next week's qualifiers against Slovenia and Lithuania.

Chalobah was named in Southgate's last squad to face Slovakia and Malta in August

England manager Gareth Southgate is a huge fan of the 22-year-old former Chelsea midfielder