Newcastle United prospect faces delay after suffering recovery setback

The midfielder will hope to make a senior debut over the coming weeks.
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Newcastle United youngster Lucas De Bolle has suffered a minor setback in his bid to recover from a concussion.

The Edinburgh-born midfielder has remained on Tyneside despite completing a deadline day loan move to Scottish Championship club Hamilton Academical after suffering a blow in an Under-21s game last month.

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The highly-rated youngster had hoped to make a full recovery in order to train with John Rankin’s side with a view to making his debut in Saturday’s visit to Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

However, Rankin has now revealed De Bolle has suffered a ‘recurrence’ of blurred vision and will continue to be monitored by United’s medical staff before being given the all-clear to join up with his temporary employers.

“Lucas had a setback from his concussion,” he explained in an interview with the Daily Record.

“The way it is, Newcastle have put him back 24 hours in the stage of his protocol.

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“He was on a bike on Monday and we just need to go through the stages with him and hope that he recovers, and hopefully doesn’t get any dizzy spells between now and the weekend.

“He saw the opticians and they are clear it is nothing to do with his eye, so that is the good thing.  He’s just having a recurrence of blurred vision so hopefully he can overcome that in the next couple of days.

Rankin is excited by the prospect of working with De Bolle after the 19-year-old midfielder agreed to move North of the Border for the remainder of the season.

Despite the delay caused by his injury, the Accies boss is determined to remain patient before finally getting to call upon the services of his latest signing.

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“I’ve spoken to him numerous times over the phone and he is really keen.  He is desperate to get here and play - and I know what that is like when you are a young boy. Sometimes that excitement to get going works against you.

“He was playing in a game for Newcastle and got knocked out a few weeks ago.

“Since then he has not trained but when you see Lucas playing and his energy levels, you will see that won’t affect him.

“We need to be patient, especially with a concussion.  It’s not a tick-box exercise. He’s got to go through rigorous tests to make sure he can play at the level required.

“But I’m sure he’s got his eye on the international squad at the end of the month.”