‘A long road’ - Newcastle United ace delivers major fitness update following nine-month injury blow

The former Aston Villa man hasn’t featured for the first-team since their Carabao Cup win over Manchester United at Old Trafford back in November. Targett injured his hamstring just minutes into that game - and then was handed a major setback after picking up an achilles injury just as he was on the road to recovery.

Alongside Kieran Trippier, who was also keen to build minutes after seeing limited game time during pre-season, Targett played 45 minutes of Newcastle United’s Under-21’s draw with Sunderland at Whitley Park on Monday night and spoke to NUFC TV about the journey he has been on over the past nine months: “It’s been a long road to recovery for me, first with my hamstring, I was then back for a week and had a tear in my Achilles so it was a kick in the teeth.” Targett said.

“I worked really hard during this time. I feel fit, strong and happy to be back. It’s now time to build on that [the 45 minutes].

“It was a great opportunity to get some minutes, especially having trained the whole of last week. I looked at the schedule to see where I can get the minutes in because it’s really important after missing the whole pre-season. The 21s was perfect to get some minutes.”

Targett was an unused substitute against Southampton on Saturday, but is eyeing a return to first-team action very soon, with the potential of a return for him coming in their Carabao Cup clash against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground next Wednesday.

Targett continued: “Obviously you work hard to try and get back with the first-team as soon as possible. I had a good week’s training last week, it’s great to be back with the boys and yeah, a big boost to be put on the bench and be back at St James’ Park.

“[I’ll] carry on training, getting that training sharpness back into the legs. We have a couple of big days this week so it’s important to carry on building on my fitness and hopefully look forward to the cup game but obviously Bournemouth is first. We’ll focus on that and hopefully be available for the cup.

“That’s what I’ll be aiming for and hopefully just an injury-free season, and we’ll see where it takes us.”

Targett may not be the only Newcastle United player to make his long-awaited return to the first-team against Nottingham Forest, with Sandro Tonali eligible to feature in that game. The Italian’s suspension from football will conclude just hours before the Magpies make the trip to Nottingham and could mark his first match since Newcastle’s defeat to Borussia Dortmund at St James’ Park in October.

Trippier, meanwhile, is also building up his fitness after making just one appearance during pre-season. The former Spurs man was given extra time off following his commitments with England during the summer.