£35m Newcastle United star ruled out for a 'few weeks' in training ground update

The Magpies have been without their £35million defender since March because of an ACL injury. Botman initially suffered a partial ACL tear in September last year but opted for a non-surgical rehabilitation plan. He resumed playing in December but looked way off his best, eventually resulting in surgery three months later.

Asked for an update on Botman, head coach Eddie Howe said: “He’s doing well. The initial moments in training were very passive, making sure he didn’t do too many duels, working on his technical work, but now he’s fully training.

“We’ve done a couple of XI vs XIs with him, he’s looked good, but he’s still a few weeks off playing competitively. He looks and feels good.

“It’s all about rhythm for Sven now and getting those game dynamics, the pitch geography back, things that he would normally do on auto pilot he needs to rediscover how to do it. It’s just been a big boost to have him in training. He’s a big guy, big presence and we’ve certainly missed him.”

Botman’s return will bring some strong competition to United’s backline with Dan Burn and Lloyd Kelly capable of playing at left-sided centre-back. But Howe says he hasn’t given that a thought.

Howe said: "I think it is a long way off at the moment but certainly, if and when Sven returns at his best level he will be a brilliant addition to the squad. Then it will be up to me to find the right balance in the team.

“It is not something at the minute that is in my conscious thinking, my conscious thinking is very much the next few games and step by step. Sven was a massive player for us and I don't think you can underestimate how much we've missed his certain qualities that he brought to us.

“His technical ability in our build-up, he had a beautiful switch of play that brought Kieran [Trippier] into play in our Champions League qualification season. We had a great dynamic on that side of the pitch, a lot of the time through Sven's distribution so I think we have really missed those qualities. He is a great lad as well, he is really popular in the dressing room as well so he has got a lot of key attributes we have missed.

“But it has to be right for Sven, he has got to build up in the right way and we’ve got to look after him because it’s not an easy or simple injury to recover from so we’ve to manage the final stages of the situation well. As I say, we certainly don’t want to make in the last few weeks.”