Newcastle United star visits specialist in Spain after ‘strange’ fresh injury blow

Newcastle United full-back Javier Manquillo has been out of the country this week after suffering an injury in training.

The 28-year-old missed Tuesday’s Carabao Cup semi-final win against Southampton and head coach Eddie Howe revealed after the game he expects Manquillo to be sidelined for “three to four weeks”.

Howe didn’t reveal what injury the Spaniard had picked up until this morning, when he confirmed the player had jetted off to Spain for injections into his knee.

“He’s just got a ball on the end of his foot, which has twisted his knee slightly,” Howe explained. “It’s a strange mechanism.

“He’s been away in Spain and had a couple of injections. I think he’s back here tomorrow and we hope from there we can build him up quite quickly.”

In other injury news, Matt Targett is stepping up his recovery from a heel injury and is on course to return by the end of February.

Howe added: “He’s running, he’s early stages of ball work and out on the grass, which is a great thing for us to see. He’s a huge player.”

Emil Krafth, despite being included in the club’s 25-man Premier League squad, is not expected to play again before the end of the 2022-23 campaign.