Newcastle United fresh injury blow v Liverpool could force Eddie Howe to make sixth summer signing
Newcastle United have been dealt a fresh injury blow after Sven Botman limped off in the closing stages of the 2-1 defeat against Liverpool at St James’ Park on Sunday afternoon.
Liverpool came from 1-0 down with 10 men to beat Newcastle with a late brace from substitute Darwin Nunez. Anthony Gordon gave The Magpies the lead in the first half before Virgil van Dijk was shown a straight red card for a last-man challenge on Alexander Isak.
With the score at 1-1, Botman was forced off with an ankle injury before Nunez grabbed a winner in stoppage time.
Following the defeat, Howe confirmed the 23-year-old defender had suffered an injury but was unclear on its severity at this early stage.
“It looks like an ankle problem,” the United boss said. “I don’t know how bad it is but we certainly wish him a speedy recovery.”
Howe previously claimed Newcastle’s transfer business was done with the signing of Lewis Hall barring a fresh injury blow.
And when asked if Botman’s injury could force a transfer re-think, Howe told The Gazette: “We’ll have to wait and see [whether we dip back into the transfer market].
“We’ll speak with the medical team and see how bad Sven is first.”
Newcastle have made five summer signings so far. Yankuba Minteh joined from Odense for £7million before being loaned to Feyenoord, Sandro Tonali joined from AC Milan for £52million, The Magpies paid Leicester City £38million for Harvey Barnes before signing Tino Livramento from Southampton for an initial £30million and loaning Lewis Hall from Chelsea with an obligation to buy for £28million.