Hearts defender Callum Paterson faces up to ten months on the sidelines through injury and will miss the remainder of the Premiership season.

The right-back was stretchered off with a knee injury just 15 minutes into his side's 4-0 win over Kilmarnock on Tuesday night.

The club's top scorer underwent a scan on Wednesday and has been told that the injury is serious and he faces a significant amount of time on the sidelines.

In a statement on the club website, Hearts said that Paterson" will go for an operation as soon as possible in January before starting his rehabilitation".

Paterson is approaching the last six months of his contract at Tynecastle and was expected to be the subject of bids next month with Hearts putting a seven-figure valuation on the 22-year-old.

The news also comes as a blow to Scotland boss Gordon Strachan, who will not be able to call on the services of the 22-year-old who made his breakthrough into the national team in 2016.

Hearts head coach Ian Cathro told the club website: "It's a bad one for Callum and everyone here is gutted for him.

"There was real concern for him last night and unfortunately that concern has been compounded with the news that he could be out for up to 10 months.

"Callum's a top class player and we'll miss him in the first-team, but we now have to look to those within the squad to step up and fill the void.

"We'll help Callum as much as we can though this difficult time."

Speaking on Wednesday afternoon, before the results of the scan were known, Cathro had said that even if the injury was as bad as feared, Paterson had the character and ability to bounce back.

"He will be able to achieve what he wants in the game irrespective of whether there is good news or bad news today," Cathro said.

"Callum will be able to go to those places. If there is a road bump then fine, he will deal with it and he will have support to deal with it.

"Callum was here as a 16-year-old boy and has grown into a good-level footballer, grown into a strong man, a strong character, an important personality for everybody here. I couldn't speak more positively of him in the short period of time I have worked with him."