Lewis Miley breaks silence on strange Newcastle United injury blow - and reveals expected return date
Newcastle United injuries: Lewis Miley has broken his silence on his recent injury problem for Newcastle.
Lewis Miley has been out of action for Newcastle United for the past five weeks with an injury initially diagnosed as a ‘dead leg’.
The 19-year-old suffered the injury during Newcastle’s 1-1 draw in the Champions League at Paris Saint-Germain back in January and hasn’t featured since.
Although initially a dead leg, Miley was left unable to bend his knee properly and further assessment revealed muscle damage in his thigh, which has ruled him out of the last nine games.
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Lewis Miley targets NUFC injury return date
And he is expected to remain on the sidelines for Newcastle’s next four matches against Manchester United, Manchester City, Barcelona and Chelsea.
But he is targeting a return in around a fortnight’s time.
Speaking at the North East Football Writers’ Association awards at Ramside Hall, having been named as the Young Men’s Player of the Year, Miley broke his silence on his injury recovery.
“It’s getting there now,” he said. “I got a knock to my leg and it’s caused some muscle damage. It’s been very frustrating but hopefully I am back out there soon and doing what I love.
“I’ll hopefully be back before the international break and hopefully back for a couple of games before that. I am hoping for the Barcelona away game, it will be a very good game to be back for.
“I was in really good form when I was playing, it’s been frustrating with the time when it came - but I need to be positive, keep looking forward and look forward to the games when I’m back.”
Lewis Miley wins FWA award
On winning the North East FWA Young Men’s Player of the Year award, Miley added: “It’s a massive honour. Obviously play a lot this season has really helped. The manager has been really big for me this season, pushes me a lot. It’s been a really good season and hopefully I can get back to that.
“It’s been a really big year for me really. It’s been a massive push on. I’ve played a lot of minutes this season. It’s really physically helped me as well and it’s been a big year.
“There’s been a couple [of standout moments]. Getting the captain’s armband, scoring (in the Champions League), it’s a great feeling and hopefully there’s lot more of those to come.”
Miley established himself as one of Newcastle’s most important players before his injury as he seamlessly slotted in at right-back in the absence of Tino Livramento, Kieran Trippier and Emil Krafth.
“It was quite unexpected when I got told but I just tried to take it in my stride really and play like I do in midfield and that’s really all I can do,” Miley said.
“It’s been massive, Trips has been a very big player for me to look up to. Since I went up [to the first team], he’s been a really good role model and you can only look up to players like that. It’s a very good squad.
“We can still achieve a lot and we’ve still got a lot to look forward to and take it game by game.”