Callum Wilson provides ‘frustrating’ Newcastle United injury update

Callum Wilson stepped up his return from injury in Dubai - but frustration still lingers for the Newcastle United striker.

The 30-year-old hasn’t featured for the Magpies since December after picking up a calf injury in the 1-1 draw versus Manchester United.

Wilson then spent time away from the club’s training ground but recently returned to light training, though has been largely restricted to gym exercises.

He linked up with Eddie Howe’s squad for the trip to Dubai and has since taken advantage of the state-of-art facilities at the Nad Al Sheba Sports Complex.

However, the four-cap England international was unable to train with his teammates as the Magpies manage his recovery carefully.

“If anything, I’m doing too much work!” Wilson said on the BBC’s Footballer’s Football Podcast.

“This is a place where you can work hard but also get some sunshine as well and it’s a change of scenery. The weather in England at the moment is hit and miss, it’s a good place to be.

“It’s frustrating, I want to be playing, I want to be training, I want to be doing all the things a footballer does. I don’t want to be stuck in the gym when everyone is outside, having fun, scoring goals, this and that.

“It seems good from the outside but it’s not what it seems. It’s not what you want to be doing.”

It is hoped Wilson, along with Kieran Trippier, can return for the final few games of the campaign as United look to seal Premier League safety.

In an ideal world, Newcastle, currently nine points above the drop zone, will be safe by the time both Wilson and Trippier, out with a broken foot, come back into contention.

Speaking from Dubai earlier this week, Howe revealed: “I’d say they’re on schedule from where they were given their respective injuries, but I wouldn’t say necessarily ahead of schedule.

“They’re both serious injuries, both enough to obviously be operated on and go through a very intense rehab period.

“Callum’s injury, you have to be very careful with; that we don’t push him back too quickly and he ends up injuring himself again, because the Achilles/calf is a very delicate area of the body and you need to make sure it’s robust enough to withstand heavy load.”