Newcastle United’s new fitness concern as key man ‘pulls out’ of international duty

Newcastle United centre-back Fabian Schar won’t be linking up with Switzerland during the two-week international break.

The 31-year-old has been a regular pick for Swiss boss Murat Yakin having made his Qatar World Cup squad between November and December last year.

However, according to RTN, Schar won’t feature in their Euro 2024 qualifiers against Belarus and Israel due to “recurring foot pain”.

Schar missed the 2-0 defeat against Manchester City at beginning of the month through concussion protocols but immediately returned to the starting XI for last week’s 2-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The Magpies travel to Nottingham Forest tonight (kick-off 8pm), and speaking before the game on Thursday, head coach Eddie Howe admitted some of his players were nursing knocks.

Howe said: “We have a couple of knocks. It was an intense game [Wolves] last week. We’ve been managing and nursing a few players. We’ll wait and see who’s fit.

“Nothing major, hopefully, it’s just a case of a few players missing training this week. We hope to have the majority of players available.”

Howe’s men will visit Dubai during the break for a warm weather training before hosting Manchester United at St James’ Park on Sunday, April 2.

United will hope to have Schar in better condition, with the player forming a trusted centre-back partnership with £35million summer signing Sven Botman.

Schar has featured the most out of any defender since Howe was appointed Magpies boss in November 2021. This season, the former Deportivo de La Coruna man has missed just two Premier League games.

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