Newcastle United centre-back Florian Lejeune could be sidelined for at least four months amid fears that he suffered knee ligament damage in the 1-0 defeat to Crystal Palace on Saturday, according to the Northern Echo.
The newspaper claims that Lejeune, 27, was spotted leaving St James’ Park on crutches after being stretchered off the pitch due to an awkward attempt to win the ball off Andros Townsend which left him in a heap on the ground.
It is understood that Lejeune could miss the start of the 2019/20 season due to this latest setback, meaning he might not return to full fitness until at least August.
OPINION
Lejeune has had a desperately unlucky first season as a Newcastle player. The Frenchman looked solid in pre-season but injured his knee before the campaign kicked off and had to wait until January before he could make his debut for the club. Since then, the ex-Villarreal defender has been a mainstay for Rafa Benitez, earning 13 appearances across all competitions. However this latest knee injury is likely to mean that the Newcastle star’s season is over, and we might not even see him until we are a few weeks into the 2019/20 campaign if things are as bad as the Northern Echo suggests. Benitez, if he is in charge over the summer, could do with shedding his options at centre-back because he does have a lot of players in that position. Unfortunately Lejeune’s injury means that he might not be able to do that and that means his transfer budget might not be boosted by the sale of a centre-back.
