Newcastle United star facing five-month injury absence as fresh illness blow confirmed

Newcastle will be without Joelinton and Joe Willock for the trip to Bramall Lane while Emil Krafth continues his recovery from an ACL injury. The Magpies head into the game on the back of a 1-0 win over Brentford and a 0-0 draw at AC Milan in the Champions League.

Joelinton has been ruled out of the match after aggravating a knee injury while on international duty with Brazil while Joe Willock has missed the start of the season after a hamstring injury followed by an Achilles set-back.

“We’re missing the two Joes in midfield,” Howe said in his pre-match press conference. “I think apart from that we’re pretty good.”

Howe went on to suggest Joelinton could be back in time for the West Ham United trip before the international break while Willock is likely to be out for another month.

“We’re hoping with Joelinton he could be back sooner [than the international break],” Howe added. “But with Joe Willock will definitely be after the international break.”

By the time Willock returns, he will have been out of action for around five months since picking up his initial hamstring injury against Brighton & Hove Albion in May last season.

Howe later confirmed that goalkeeper Martin Dubravka missed the trip to Milan during the week due to illness.

Callum Wilson came off the bench in the second half at the San Siro on Tuesday night but has not trained properly with the first-team this week.

“With Callum we always have to manage his load,” Howe continued. “That doesn’t change if it’s a single game week or three game week.”