‘Months not weeks’ - Newcastle United star faces potential surgery after freak injury blow

Barnes was withdrawn with a foot injury in the early stages of Newcastle’s emphatic 8-0 win at Bramall Lane and is set to see a specialist.

Ahead of The Magpies’ Carabao Cup third-round match at home to Manchester City on Wednesday night (8pm kick-off), Howe confirmed Barnes’ injury as a serious one.

“It’s an injury to his part of the foot just below the toe, it’s quite a substantial injury,” Howe said. “He had it scanned and we’re waiting now for a specialist’s opinion on what to do next and whether there is surgery involved or not.

“I don’t think it was a tackle, I think it was just pushing off to run so a very unusual injury.”

The 25-year-old joined Newcastle from Leicester City and scored on his Premier League debut for the club in a 5-1 win against Aston Villa on the opening day. Barnes has been limited to just two starts for The Magpies and is now facing ‘months rather than weeks’ on the sidelines.

“We’re fearing it could be [a while out],” Howe added. “I don’t want to put a time on it once we get confirmation from the specialist but we think it will be months rather than weeks.

“He was down after the game because he knew it wasn’t a normal injury where you feel a muscle and think that might be one or two weeks, this was a slightly more complex issue and I think he probably feared the worst because there was no one around him and it was one of those mechanisms where he knew it wasn’t quite right.

“There’s no doubt he’ll be disappointed because he was very keen to show his value and worth and Sunday was an opportunity to do that. But whatever the injury is, we’ll support him and we know he’s a top quality player and he still has a massive part to play.”

Further Newcastle United injury concerns v Manchester City

The United boss went on to suggest he had a few more injury concerns heading into the game but wouldn’t disclose the identity of the players.

“A couple [injury concerns] in there,” the 45-year-old continued. “A few players who naturally from the three game week and such a physical effort. We have a few issues in there.”

Joelinton, Joe Willock and Emil Krafth will definitely miss the match due to injury. Joelinton is still recovering from a knee injury while Willock is out with an Achilles issue and Krafth has only recently returned to training after over a year out with an ACL injury.

Howe suggested he would rotate his squad for the cup match against Pep Guardiola’s treble-winners. The Magpies have beaten Brentford 1-0, drawn 0-0 at AC Milan in the Champions League and picked up a record 8-0 league away win at Sheffield United in quick succession.