Newcastle United defender Paul Dummett has joined team mate Jonjo Shelvey in Barcelona for medical treatment, according to the Daily Mail.
The newspaper claims that the club are hoping that a specialist in Spain will be able to find the solution to a hamstring problem which has plagued the left back since the start of last season.
The club’s physio Sean Beech has travelled with the Welshman, who missed time earlier this campaign after aggravating the problem on international duty.
Both players are still thought to be in contention to face Chelsea on Saturday. Manager Rafael Benitez would like to bring in another left back to support Dummett this month but progress has been slow in that regard.
OPINION
This is concerning news for Newcastle fans. Obviously the fact that both Dummett and Shelvey remain in contention to take on Chelsea is positive, but the fact that it’s necessary for both of them to see a specialist is rather worrying. It’s incredible that Dummett hasn’t missed more game time over the last season and a half if he has truly been suffering hamstring problems for that long. Additionally the 27-year-old’s ability to put in consistently strong performances is testament to him as a professional. Hopefully a solution to both players’ problems is found in Barcelona because they clearly have relatively serious knocks to deal with. In terms of Benitez searching for left back cover that’s a no brainer really. Dummett is the only senior full back on that side of the pitch at St James’ Park and so it would make sense for the Spaniard to bring someone else in.
