Champions League regulations rule Newcastle United £17m duo out for Borussia Dortmund after Man Utd start

Dan Burn and Jacob Murphy picked up injuries during Newcastle’s 1-0 win over Arsenal at St James’ Park on Saturday, adding to the club’s long injury list.

Sandro Tonali has also recently been handed a 10 month suspension from playing after breaching Italian betting regulations and remains under investigation by the Football Association.

At least 12 first-team players are set to be ruled out for the Champions League group stage match at Dortmund on Tuesday night (5:45pm kick-off), with Eddie Howe potentially struggling to name a full bench.

This is due to the fact that players such as Matt Ritchie and Emil Krafth, who started the 3-0 Carabao Cup win over Manchester United last week, ineligible to feature after being left out of Newcastle’s Champions League squad. Mark Gillespie and Javier Manquillo also aren’t included in the squad but are yet to feature this season.

After omitting the four players from Newcastle’s Champions League squad, Howe told The Gazette: “Very difficult [decsions]. It was a difficult situation for me and the club to be in really where we had to leave players out of the squad and we don’t want to leave anyone out.

“It was a reward for the whole squad last year and we had to make some very tough calls because of the rules and regulations that the Champions League put in place. They weren’t easy conversations but ones I had to make.”

Newcastle are able to name up to 12 players on the bench in Champions League matches, but with 12 first-team players out, naming a full bench is unlikely on Tuesday evening.

In addition to Burn, Murphy, Tonali, Ritchie, Krafth, Manquillo and Gillespie, The Magpies are also without Sven Botman, Alexander Isak, Matt Targett, Harvey Barnes and Elliot Anderson. That leaves just 16 senior players available for Tuesday night with 17-year-old Lewis Miley likely to be included in the matchday squad at the Signal Iduna Park.

Newcastle’s previous Champions League away trip to AC Milan saw 16-year-old goalkeeper Aidan Harris named on the bench - and at that time, United had a relatively clean bill of health.