A nightmarish Newcastle United injury claim has been made regarding centre-forward Callum Wilson…
What’s the latest?
Daily Mail reporter Craig Hope has hinted that the attacker could be out injured beyond the initial March timeframe given by his manager Eddie Howe.
Hope tweeted: “Interesting quotes from Callum Wilson on his BBC podcast, saying NUFC needed another striker in January & revealing there’s no timeframe on his return from injury. Eddie Howe said early March last month, but word elsewhere was it would be longer.”
Fume
Howe will surely be fuming with this news for multiple reasons.
Firstly, it suggests that he will be without Wilson’s talents for several Premier League matches throughout February and March, with Hope’s update not giving an exact date on when the 29-year-old could return. This could be a nightmare scenario for the Magpies, as he is a proven scorer in the top flight and crucial to the team’s chances of avoiding relegation.
Since the start of the 2020/21 campaign, Wilson has scored 18 league goals and provided five assists in 37 starts for Newcastle. Allan Saint-Maximin and Joe Willock (eight) are the team’s second-top scorers in that time, which highlights the drop-off in attacking quality between him and the rest of the squad.
Howe will also be fuming with this update, as it highlights the severity of PIF’s failures on deadline day. Newcastle had a £33m offer accepted for Reims striker Hugo Ekitike but were unable to persuade him to make the switch to England, ultimately failing to bring in a forward on the final day of the transfer window.
This has left Chris Wood as the Tynesiders’ main option at the top of the pitch. The former Burnley marksman has scored just three goals in 22 matches for Burnley and Newcastle in all competitions this season, which suggests that he may not be the goalscoring outlet that they need in Wilson’s prolonged absence.
Therefore, Howe will be livid with both the lack of success in the transfer market in January and Wilson potentially being out for longer than expected. It could have a huge impact on his side, who could suffer from a lack of goals unless other players such as Wood step up and fire in the goals to win crucial points for the Magpies.
They need to start winning games quickly to move out of the bottom three and avoid the drop, and replacing Wilson’s goals could be crucial to that.
AND in other news, “From what I’ve heard”: Waugh drops behind-scenes PIF claim that’ll intrigue NUFC fans…