LATEST: D-Day for Portsmouth midfielder as ex-Norwich City and Swindon Town man learns fate following leg break against Bristol Rovers

Pompey boss Danny Cowley revealed the expectation is Thompson will have to go under the knife, foll owing the foul from Bristol Rovers’ Glenn Whelan which left him with a fractured fibula and ankle damage.

But the Blues boss admitted the injury is not as bad as he initially feared, after witnessing the incident at close quarters.

Thompson is due to see a specialist, who will advise over whether to operate on the ex-Norwich City and Swindon Town man.

That’s after an MRI scan in Winchester confirmed relatively minor damage to the impacted ankle, following confirmation of a spiral fracture to his fibula.

Cowley explained the path forward for the 27-year-old is now set to become clearer, but broadly the outlook is significantly better than he first anticipated.

He said: ‘Louis had a scan on Monday.

‘He’s got a spiral fracture to the fibula and low-level damage to the ankle.

‘So he’ll see the specialist and then we’ll know a lot more, at the moment it’s just a radiologist's report.

‘When the specialist looks at it he’ll decide if it needs an operation.

‘We anticipate that the fibula will need to be plated, but that will obviously be the specialist’s call.

‘It happened right in front of me and I thought it was a double leg break to the tibia and fibula.

‘So the fact it’s only the fibula which is the non weight-bearing bone in the leg, if you’re going to break a bone in the leg it’s better to do that one.’

It’s been another traumatic period for Thompson, after he was stretchered from Fratton Park to Queen Alexandra Hospital on Saturday following Whelan’s foul.

The leg break is the latest in a long line of injury problems for the midfielder, which finally looked to have been put to bed last season as he equalled his best total of appearances in a season.

But Cowley believes his player is in a sturdy place mentally, even if his presence is going to be missed.

He added: ‘Louis is fine.

‘We’re all disappointed. He’s worked so hard to get himself into the shape he has.

‘He’s a very important person and important player to us.

‘We’re going to miss him, there’s no hiding place from that.

‘For him, it’s a contact injury and they can happen to anyone. They’re just unfortunate, so we just feel really sorry for him.’