Newcastle United left-back Lewis Hall is set to miss the start of pre-season.
Lewis Hall is set to miss the start of pre-season but hopes to return in good time ahead of the Premier League opener against Aston Villa.
The 20-year-old had emerged as a contender for the club’s player of the season award before foot surgery in March curtailed his breakout campaign.
The injury came at a time when Hall was on the radar of England manager Thomas Tuchel while at club level, Newcastle had the Carabao Cup final on the horizon.
Newcastle United left-back Lewis Hall reflects on his recovery
While the majority of Newcastle’s squad are enjoying some downtime following a historic campaign that also brought Champions League qualification, Hall has stayed on Tyneside to work on his recovery.
Reflecting on how it’s going, Hall told the club website: "It's just gradually progressing. I've just done 12 weeks non-weight bearing, which is obviously a long time, so to go from that to what I'm doing now is really good.
“With the amount of time I was hobbling about before, it takes a while to get used to again but I feel like I'm getting there now. It's just about building slowly.
"As soon as I was back here, got the cast off and the stitches out, I was straight in the (altitude) chamber, sitting down and getting my heart rate up with just my arms - every evening, my arms were dead! - and then slowly started to integrate using my feet and my legs again.
"Because I've been doing a lot of aerobic stuff in the chamber, what I'm doing now isn't going to cause me to fatigue. It's just about slowly, gradually, increasing the load.
“Now, mentally, it feels good to be outside. Some of the other lads are out doing pre-season programmes and whatever so it's good when I'm training and seeing them as well. It feels like I'm properly around it again."
Lewis Hall’s Newcastle United return date
Howe’s squad are due back for the start of pre-season on Monday, July 7 and while Hall will be present at the training, he isn’t expected to resume full training straight away.
Newcastle play their first friendly away to Scottish Premiership champions Celtic on Saturday, July 19 before jetting over to Singapore and South Korea to face the Arsenal, K-League All Stars and Tottenham Hotspur.
United then return to Tyneside, hosting La Liga duo Espanyol and Atletico Madrid at St James’ Park before the Premier League campaign gets underway a week later with a lunchtime trip to Aston Villa.
In order to be involved for the visit to Villa Park, Hall is eyeing minutes in the latter part of the pre-season fixture list.
"With any injury, especially a long-term one, it's so up in the air," Hall said. "Some people can come back quicker, some people take a bit longer. It all depends on how everything goes.
"For me, my aim is to be fit and ready to go for the first game of the season, but to do that, I'd like to have a few pre-season games as well beforehand."
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