Newcastle United rocked by fresh injury claim - key player could miss rest of the season

Joelinton could miss the rest of the season through injury - according to reports from ESPN in Brazil. The Brazilian was substituted just after half-time of Newcastle’s FA Cup win over Sunderland with a quad injury. 

Initial diagnosis of the injury - and a timeframe on his recovery - had Joelinton missing six weeks of action, however, fresh reports have suggested that he could be sidelined until the end of the campaign if he has to undergo surgery to fix the issue. Speaking about Joelinton’s injury ahead of Saturday’s game with Manchester City, Eddie Howe said: “The prospects over the next couple of weeks aren’t good. It’s an injury that will make him miss a minimum of six weeks. He’s a huge player for us, it’s a big blow. He’s had a stop-start season.

“He’s got a problem with the tendon in his quad. It’s a very difficult place to get an injury, hence the timeframe. He’s very disappointed. We’ve had to do a job of picking Joe up because he’s very disappointed.”

Joelinton suffered a similar injury to his thigh in September and has also suffered with hamstring problems in recent times. If he is forced to have surgery on his current injury, then he will join Nick Pope as someone who is likely to miss the remainder of the campaign through injury. Sandro Tonali will not feature until the beginning of next season as he serves a suspension from football.

Elsewhere, United are still without Joe Willock and Elliot Anderson through injury. Willock hasn’t featured since before the November international break whilst Anderson hasn’t been seen in action since October after suffering a back injury.