Newcastle’s Injury Crisis: Eddie Howe Drops Bombshell on Recovery Timeline of Star Duo and how their time away will affect the League title Run

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ByDrkeem
November 9, 2024

Eddie Howe has provided an update on the return timeframes for Sven Botman and Jamaal Lascelles following their respective ACL injuries.

Both players suffered major injury setbacks in March but have since returned to individual training programmes as they enter the later stages of their recovery process. Botman was given a rough return date in December but now Howe has now said it would be a ‘bonus’ if the defender was back in contention by then.

The end of December will mark nine months out for both players, the initial extent of the recovery timeframe in March. Newcastle were without Emil Krafth for 14 months after he sustained a similar injury back in 2022, so patience may be required for the defensive duo.

“They’re on different spells of their recovery,” Howe told The Gazette. “Jamaal will be some time after Sven. Sven is making good progress and we hope that he can begin light training with us within the next few weeks but there’s still a jump from training to playing so we still need to be patient with him again.

“If we see him before the end of the year that would be a bonus but we’re probably looking at more January for him.”

While Howe said Botman would be training ‘within the next few weeks’, the defender himself took to Instagram on Friday to post an image of himself at the training ground along with the caption: “First training today, great feeling to be back out there with the team.”

Newcastle looked at defensive reinforcements in the summer with a failed attempt to break their transfer record and land Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace. While interest remains in Guehi, the expected return of Botman in the coming months could see the club switch their focus further up the pitch.

Meanwhile, club captain Lascelles is out of contract at the end of the season after the club exercised a one-year extension during the 2023-24 campaign.