Manchester United star Christian Eriksen is sidelined for three months with ankle ligament damage

Chris­t­ian Erik­sen has left Old Traf­ford on his crutch­es after tor­tur­ing his ankle lig­a­ments and will be out for at least three months.

And that could lead to a last-minute emer­gency sign­ing for Man­ches­ter Unit­ed on trans­fer dead­line day.

Erik­sen limped off after a spec­tac­u­lar tack­le by Andy Car­roll in Sat­ur­day’s FA Cup win over Reading.

The Red Dev­il star was pho­tographed leav­ing the pitch with his feet inside his pro­tec­tive boots.

Now that the bad news of his long absence is con­firmed will come as a blow to Erik Ten Hag.

The club have con­firmed that Erik­sen is on a “long-term absence” and is like­ly to miss most of the rest of the season.

The 30-year-old Dan­ish play­er could be back in action in late April/early May, but it would be a big loss for Unit­ed as they aim for a top four fin­ish and a Europa League spot.

Ten Hag will be with­out Don­ny van de Beek for the remain­der of the cam­paign, as will Scott McTominay.

Casemiro and Fred are the only two top-lev­el cen­tral mid­field­ers left at Old Trafford.

The injury will see the end of the loan peri­od for young Zidane Iqbal, who has been train­ing with the first team.

Kob­biee Main­oo has also been impres­sive in the last few weeks against Reading.

But they may need to turn to the trans­fer mar­ket on the final day to fill the midfield.

Ten­hag: “Of course he’s dis­ap­point­ed and we’re dis­ap­point­ed too, but that’s what hap­pens in elite football.

“Dead­lines are dif­fi­cult, I can’t make deci­sions with such a seri­ous injury.