The ‘massive’ Newcastle United player Eddie Howe wants back from injury ‘as soon as possible’

Eddie Howe hopes to welcome back Joe Willock ‘as soon as possible’ to even more depth to his Newcastle United midfield.

In a position where the Magpies were “stretched” last season after Jonjo Shelvey’s January move to Nottingham Forest, Howe had an array of options available to him for Saturday’s Premier League opener against Aston Villa.

Summer signing Sandro Tonali, who scored the opener in the 5-1 victory, got the nod alongside Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton with Sean Longstaff and Elliot Anderson named as back-up. Meanwhile, United had Lewis Miley in reserve after the 17-year-old starred in pre-season.

And that’s without mentioning Joe Willock as he continues his recovery from the hamstring injury he sustained during the penultimate game of last season against Brighton and Hove Albion at St James’ Park.

Asked about the strength in depth in midfield on Saturday, Howe replied: “At the moment, let’s not get carried away! It is a long season for us, we will get injuries. It is part of the game. It is nice, though.

“When Jonjo [Shelvey] left we were stretched in that area. When Joe [Willock] pulled his hamstring at the back end of the season we were really stretched. We want him back as soon as possible as he is a massive player. When he comes back, and everyone else is fit, I will have another problem.”

Willock, who joined permanently from Arsenal for £25million last summer, is still around four weeks away from returning after suffering a setback during United’s trip to the United States for the Premier League Summer Series.

“Joe has worked hard through the summer after a really bad hamstring injury,” Howe explained.

“It was a serious injury to his hamstring where he missed the back end of last season and now in pre-season as he’s working back he’s just felt a little bit of discomfort in his hamstring, not necessarily another pull to the area but just a discomfort. So we’ve just had to work him down again and he’s in the process now of building back up. We’ll probably miss him for the first group of games before the international break.”