Newcastle United star has injection - 'not sure' he'll play again this season

Joelinton has been back at Newcastle United’s training ground in recent days after spending the last week abroad.

The 28-year-old has missed the Magpies’ last two matches against Ipswich Town and Brighton & Hove Albion due to a knee injury he first sustained in February.

Joelinton returned to action in March and had been able to manage the issue. However, the midfielder felt a lot of discomfort 24 hours before the Ipswich game, resulting in him seeing a specialist.

And the advice was that Joelinton should sit out the rest of the campaign. While Eddie Howe has admitted that is likely to be the case, Newcastle’s head coach hasn’t fully ruled out a surprise return.

Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe provides Joelinton update

Speaking ahead of Sunday’s massive Premier League clash against Chelsea, Howe said: “I saw Joe yesterday [Thursday] for the first time in a while. He'd been away getting treatment and returned to Brazil briefly, but he's been back in Barcelona for another injection.

“I think he's feeling pretty good. Whether we see him before the end of the season, I'm not sure.”

Howe said last week: “The likelihood is it will be difficult [to get him back before the end of the season], I think, but with Joe, you'd never rule him out.

“I think he's so motivated to try and come back, but a bit of discomfort in his knee last week just before the game so he sought a specialist opinion. That opinion was nothing serious, but he needed a period of rest.

“He's now in Brazil, so we'll wait and see if we can get him back before the end of the season. But the likelihood is probably not.”

Newcastle United assessing two players ahead of Chelsea

Newcastle are assessing the fitness of “a couple of players” ahead of facing Chelsea.

Howe revealed: “We've got a couple of players we're looking at and assessing, and we'll see how they are from the weekend. Yeah, but apart from that, we're okay. We've trained well this week. I've been pleased with the group, very focused on our next match.”

When asked if he could reveal those players, Howe replied: “Let's keep it under wraps and see if they make it.”

Fabian Schar and Kieran Trippier were forced off at Brighton last weekend but according to Howe “are doing pretty good”.

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