Newcastle United star ruled out for another two months after injury return tease
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Botman has been back on the grass and teasing his return from a serious knee injury picked up back in March. He was given a six to nine-month return timeframe which he is now into.
But the Dutch defender looks likely to be on the later end of that timeframe with the club remaining consistent on a December return date. Paul Mitchell revealed last month that Botman would be back in action by December and head coach Eddie Howe has echoed that message.
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Hide AdThe positive social media updates from Botman led to speculation that he could be back sooner rather than later, but Howe has played down any such suggestion.
“We won’t see him before the next international break [in November], we’re looking beyond that,” admitted the Newcastle boss. “But he’s hitting the right strength markers and looking really good.
“We haven’t seen him in training yet, and we probably won’t see him until after the next international break. But he is closing in.
“It is a long road. I know everyone wants news – we want him back and he wants to be back. But it’s got to be at the right time. The reality is that we’re probably looking more towards Christmas time.”
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Defender Jamaal Lascelles has also been out with an ACL injury for a similar period but is understood to be slightly further back than his team-mate. The Newcastle captain also isn’t active on social media with the only updates he has provided on his fitness coming via his matchday programme column.
“I should be back on the grass soon and jogging in the next few weeks,” Lascelles wrote. “I'll take me a while to build up from there but I'm happy to be ticking those boxes and now it's about getting my boots back on and progressing slowly that way.”
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