Fresh Newcastle United injury claim with £60m trio 'very close' ahead of Everton, Spurs & AC Milan

Newcastle United's injury situation could look significantly better in the coming weeks with three key players close to returning.

Sven Botman claims he is in the 'last few steps' in his recovery from a knee injury that has kept him out since September while Sean Longstaff and Joe Willock are also understood to be close heading into a busy festive schedule. Newcastle travel to Everton on Thursday (7:30pm kick-off) before making a trip to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday (4:30pm kick-off).

And when asked if any players could be expected to return ahead of next Wednesday's final group stage match against AC Milan at St James' Park (8pm kick-off), head coach Eddie Howe said: "We hope so.

"Difficult to give a definitive answer on that. No one is training with the group at the moment but some are very close."

In the absence of key players, Newcastle have seen the likes of Jamaal Lascelles, Tino Livramento and Lewis Miley step-up and make an impact in the first-team. But Howe admits any returning players are unlikely to be eased back in due to the busy fixture schedule. "Probably not [eased in] with the number of games we've got coming up and the very tight turnaround," Howe told The Gazette on Wednesday morning. "It's not a normal season for us where we're not playing Saturday to Saturday.

"Everyone coming back from injury would have probably been eased in [in a normal fixture schedule] but we need players back and we need them back quickly."