Newcastle United dealt new concern as £130m trio miss training ahead of PSG tie

Newcastle United have been handed a further injury concern as they put together their final preparations for Wednesday night’s eagerly anticipated home clash with Paris Saint-Germain.

St James Park will host its first Champions League group stage game in over 20 years when the Ligue 1 champions walk out at Gallowgate as United look to build on a hard-earned draw their claimed at Serie A giants AC Milan on matchday one of the campaign.

However, Howe’s preparations for the game have been disrupted by injuries to key duo Sven Botman and Joelinton, who have both been ruled out of the tie with knee and thigh injuries respectively.

Speaking of the blows, Howe said ahead of Saturday’s win against Burnley: “Sven has a knee problem. I don’t think we will see Sven before the international break but hopefully, we’ll see him very quickly after. (On Joelinton) It looks like a hamstring and that’ll be a huge blow if we lose him. But we’ll wait and see.”

Long-term injury victims Harvey Barnes and Joe Willock will miss out once again as they continue their comebacks from respective foot and ankle injuries.

Tuesday morning seemed to have brought further concern for Howe as Italy international Sandro Tonali did not take part in the first part of his side’s final training session before Wednesday night’s game. However, there has since been confirmation the former AC Milan star did join his team-mates during the latter part of the session. Should Tonali not feature against PSG, academy product Elliot Anderson could be handed another opportunity to shine alongside Bruno Guimaraes and Sean Longstaff in the heart of Howe’s side.

There seemed to be one piece of good news for Howe as England striker Callum Wilson trained alongside his team-mates for the first time in a week after he missed the Carabao Cup win over Manchester City and Saturday’s Premier League victory against Burnley with a thigh injury.

The former Bournemouth frontman is still believed to be a doubt for the meeting with the Ligue 1 champions and that will mean Alexander Isak will lead the Magpies frontline once again as he looks to find the net for a fourth consecutive game in all competitions.