Manager issues update on 'frustrated' Newcastle United defender

The Newcastle United defender helped the Championship club keep a clean sheet in Saturday’s 1-0 home win over Huddersfield Town. Paul Heckingbottom’s side are second in the division with 22 games played.

Clark, loaned to the club in the summer, has only featured in five league games so far this campaign because of an early-season hamstring injury.

"He showed his quality," said Heckingbottom. "He's getting fitter now each week.

"We only got him at the back end of pre-season, so we only had a couple of weeks to work with him. He started the first league game out of position, and played here for the second, and did really well.

"Then he's had a long period out, and got thrown into the action at Cardiff, and, second-half, I thought he was excellent down there. It's been good to have these training weeks behind him – and you can see him getting fitter each day, each week.

"We look forward to him getting a good run of consistency in terms of his training. He will have been as frustrated as the other boys who have picked up injuries, so it's good to have him back."

Clark – who joined Newcastle from Aston Villa in 2016 – didn’t have a squad number in the second half of last season.

Speaking in July, 33-year-old Clark said: “I spent six months last season not involved and just training, which isn’t a great feeling, to be honest. But this is a new challenge, a fresh start, and one that I’m looking forward to.”