Newcastle United haven’t ruled out the possibility of injured midfielder Sean Longstaff being sidelined for the rest of the season, according to journalist Lee Ryder.
Writing on The Chronicle’s website, Ryder stated that: “it remains to be seen whether United deem him unavailable for the remaining eight games of the season after this weekend.”
The 21-year-old has already been definitively ruled out of Saturday’s clash with Everton, having left the London Stadium on crutches after sustaining a knee injury in the Magpies’ 2-0 defeat to West Ham United last weekend.
He is visiting a specialist to try and discover the extent of the setback, although the specialist’s verdict will only serve as a first opinion and not a final verdict.
OPINION
This would be a massive, massive blow to Newcastle. It’s worrying what’s been coming out about Longstaff’s injury in recent days, as it all points to it being more serious than first thought. Obviously Ryder isn’t saying that he’s definitely out for the season, merely that the club haven’t ruled it out. But that in and of itself is concerning. In an ideal world you’d want the club to have dismissed that as a possibility altogether, of course. Having said all that, Rafael Benitez does have genuine depth in central midfield at the moment with the likes of Isaac Hayden, Mohamed Diame, Ki Sung-yueng and Jonjo Shelvey all available. So it wouldn’t be the end of the world if Longstaff was out for the season, merely a disappointing way for his breakthrough campaign to end. Everyone associated with the club will be hoping that that’s not the case, but it’s worrying that it’s even being discussed as a possibility.
