Newcastle United star facing 12 games out 'at least' as injury worse than first suggested

Newcastle United's injury situation is going from bad to worse with Callum Wilson now set to miss the majority of the festive period.

Wilson was taken off at half-time in the 2-0 Champions League defeat at Borussia Dortmund earlier this month following a hamstring complaint. The striker was still called up to Gareth Southgate's England squad on the back of the issue with Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe suggesting a late call would be made on whether he would be involved in the trip to Bournemouth.

Wilson didn't feature in the 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth and subsequently withdrew from the England squad with Howe telling The Gazette the 31-year-old would be out for: "A number of weeks."

According to The Telegraph, Wilson is facing 'at least six weeks' on the sidelines with a hamstring injury, ruling him out of a crucial run of fixtures heading into Christmas. Including the Bournemouth game and two England matches against Malta and North Macedonia, six weeks out would see Wilson miss 12 matches in total.

The injury could see Newcastle's top scorer, who has found the net seven times in just five Premier League starts this season, ruled out until 2024.

Elsewhere in Newcastle's squad, 11 other players are currently nursing various injuries. Fabian Schar is away with Switzerland on international duty but sat out the 1-1 draw against Israel due to a muscle injury.

There are also concerns over Sean Longstaff's ankle after he fell awkwardly against Bournemouth but was able to complete the match.

There is more positive news on Alexander Isak, who is in line to return from a groin injury after the international break. But uncertainty remains over Sven Botman's knee injury which has seen him miss 11 matches already.

Newcastle are unlikely to have the Dutch defender back involved until 2024 as they await further specialist opinion on whether the player requires surgery.

Harvey Barnes has made good progress recovering from a foot injury and will be pushing to be back involved before Christmas while Elliot Anderson, Matt Targett, Jacob Murphy and Dan Burn are all likely to be out until the new year.