Newcastle United player facing three months out after injury U-turn as uncertainty remains over £55m duo

There is a lot of uncertainty surrounding some of Newcastle United's injured players at the moment, according to Eddie Howe at least.

Newcastle are hoping to have Alexander Isak back this weekend after a month out with a groin injury while Sean Longstaff will face a late fitness test ahead of the match against Chelsea at St James' Park.

But slightly further down the line in terms of return dates, Newcastle have players such as Callum Wilson and Harvey Barnes while uncertainty remains over Sven Botman.

Jacob Murphy, Dan Burn and Matt Targett have already been ruled out until early 2024 and Elliot Anderson's back injury could also take him into the new year before he returns.

But Howe is hoping to welcome back a key trio of Barnes, Botman and Wilson back before then.

Although he wouldn't say much on the latter two.

"Slightly unclear at the minute," was Howe's response to how long Wilson would be out after stating the striker would be unavailable for 'a number of weeks' with a hamstring problem.

Botman has been out of action for two months with a mysterious knee injury and is still yet to be given a return date.

"We know what his injury is but we're unsure at this moment in time how long Sven is going to be out," Howe added.

"We're hoping it's not too long and we're hoping he can rejoin the group pretty quickly. But there's a chance that might not happen so we're keeping everything crossed.

When asked if he could reveal what the specific injury was, Howe replied with a smirk: "No."

But with Harvey Barnes, there has been a U-turn of sorts with Howe claiming before the international break that the winger had been making good progress.

"He’s probably one who won’t be too far away after the international break," the Newcastle boss said earlier this month.

Now Howe has reverted back to Barnes' initial prognosis that ruled him out for three months.

"He's on track from the original injury," The Magpies boss explained. "I think the original injury was, slightly unclear on the timescale for the injury but he's on track for that. It won't be two or three games after the international break, it will be longer than that."