Second Newcastle United star undergoes surgery - set to miss nine weeks after U-turn

Newcastle United winger Jacob Murphy won't return to action until after the New Year following shoulder surgery.

The 28-year-old first dislocated his shoulder in the Champions League home game against Borussia Dortmund last month before he suffered the same injury 10 days later versus Arsenal.

While Murphy sat out of matches away to Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester United, United's medics decided to try and avoid surgery by strapping up his shoulder.

However, just over 15 minutes after coming on as a substitute in Saturday's victory over the Gunners, the winger's shoulder popped out again.

Murphy underwent surgery earlier this week which is set to rule him out until the second week of January.

"He's had surgery," confirmed Howe, who spoke ahead of tomorrow's long trip to Bournemouth. Non-invasive keyhole surgery on his shoulder which has hopefully fixed the problem. Timewise on that, probably about nine weeks.” 

Murphy becomes the second player in nearly as many days to go under the knife.

Matt Targett, who sustained a hamstring injury during the 3-0 win at Manchester United last week, uploaded a photo from his hospital bed on Thursday.

The left-back posted on social media: “Still finding it hard to get my head around the injury… felt so good going into the United game!! Completely bizarre injury to happen in a couple of minutes of the game! 

“Surgery went well yesterday so I’m on the mend. Determined to come back better than ever ” 

The former Aston Villa man is expected to be sidelined for three months, leaving Lewis Hall with Newcastle's only recognised left-back with Dan Burn almost out for a similar timescale because of a back issue.

Meanwhile, Howe confirmed no decision has been made on Sven Botman potentially undergoing surgery too.

The Dutchman hasn’t featured since scoring his first Newcastle goal during the 8-0 victory at Sheffield United in September because of a knee issue. 

He was back out on the grass recently but it is feared he may need an operation as the problem persists. 

"No massive news on Sven - he is progressing well, (and) he has been away in Holland getting specialist treatment," said Howe. "I think he's back here today so I will chat with him and see how he is getting on."