Newcastle United handed fresh boost after seven-month blow & £117m trio's return
Lewis Miley is closing in on a return for Newcastle United - but may have to wait for his opportunity.
Last season, Miley made 26 appearances for Newcastle in all competitions and was a regular starter in the side during an injury crisis. But the 18-year-old’s breakthrough campaign was cut short due to a back injury, he then suffered a broken metatarsal in June before the start of pre-season.
As a result, the young midfielder has not featured for Newcastle since the 2-0 FA Cup defeat at Manchester City seven months ago. Now Miley is back in full training and pushing to be involved once again.
Though Saturday’s Premier League match against Brighton & Hove Albion may still be a little too soon for the player.
"He has been back training during the break,” said head coach Eddie Howe. “He has looked really good, looks like he has not been away.
“It has been great to see. We will re-introduce him at the right time, he will have some competition, he is coming back into a great environment.”
Unlike last season when Newcastle’s midfield was decimated by injuries, Miley returns to a squad with serious competition for places in the middle of the park. Since Miley’s initial injury, Joe Willock and Joelinton have recovered from long-term injuries while Sandro Tonali is back available following a 10-month betting ban.
As a result, Miley may have to be patient when it comes to starting first-team matches once again.
“I think coming back from the injuries he's had and he's had a couple of injuries now, that's the best place for him to be rather than going 'he has to play' and he has to play when he's probably not ready to play,” Howe told The Gazette.
“That's probably the reason he got the injuries that he suffered because we had to push him too hard because we had no alternative players to use during a really condensed period of football. Learning the lessons from that will be really important and reintroducing him at the right time.
“He will have some outstanding players to compete against which will only help him learn and develop anyway. Hopefully we can keep the majority of our strength in midfield.”
But Howe could now face a difficult task of keeping all his midfielders happy with minutes on the pitch.
“You never quite know how that dynamic is going to be,” he added. "For those guys the competition for places is really, really healthy for them, although sometimes they will probably feel the frustration of that competition.
"All they have to do is the minute they take the pitch, try to make the difference. Try to make a difference and make me pick them for the next one.
"I think we saw a positive impact from both midfield substitutions at Everton, both Sean Longstaff and Joe Willock came on and did well.
"They gave us an extra lift and that is the beauty from our perspective that you get not just good players starting the game but players who can come on and influence the result positively for you at the end of the game.
"We love all the players involved, some of them have had different runs of form. We will get injuries and suspensions so we will need that strength throughout the season."