Lassana Diarra, the Portsmouth midfielder, could be out for up to three weeks, according to Tony Adams.

The France international limped off after 19 minutes of Saturday's goalless draw at West Ham United after a taking the full weight of Scott Parker's mistimed challenge on his right ankle. France demanded Diarra join the squad for their home friendly with Uruguay tomorrow night - despite the injury, which Adams says could rule Diarra out for a number of weeks.

"Lassana is our most influential player and has turned his ankle," the Portsmouth manager said. "I'm not a physio, but in my experience you are looking at weeks out when you do something like that.

"And at a club like Portsmouth injuries like that have an effect. We lost Sol Campbell and Niko Kranjcar with injuries before the West Ham game and we haven't got the luxury like the big teams of having a massive squad."

Adams admitted he was upset that Diarra could not remain in England to receive treatment from Portsmouth's medical staff.

"I've still had to let him go away and travel to France," Adams added. "I didn't want him on a plane when his ankle is going to blow up.

"I would like to have scanned him on Sunday and then given them a fair assessment but now we have to wait."