Newcastle United have been handed mixed updates on the fitness of Yoane Wissa and Lewis Hall as Eddie Howe will have a tall task in managing his squad through a packed September schedule.
According to The Athletic’s Chris Waugh, Wissa will not feature before the October international break after suffering an injury before completing his first training session on Tyneside.
Although Initial fears circulated in some circles about Wissa having sustained an ACL injury, a specialist has since confirmed that Wissa is expected to be sidelined for four to six weeks, but no longer than that.
Wissa’s debut, therefore, will be delayed until mid-to-late October in a bit of a frustrating twist, given that he barely missed games and was lauded for his durability at Brentford.
On a more positive note, Hall has returned to fitness following a long-term foot problem, although his lack of a full pre-season has required careful management, Waugh reported.
Newcastle’s coaching staff used the international break to build his workload and were pleased with the progress of the 21-year-old, who is now expected to ramp up his minutes in the coming weeks.
Howe has stuck with a mostly unchanged defensive unit featuring Kieran Trippier, Fabian Schar, Dan Burn, and Tino Livramento with Nick Pope in net — with Sven Botman also starting against Leeds United before the international break.
That group has delivered three clean sheets in the opening four league matches, which is far from bad, but with a fixture packed full of games for the remainder of the month, including the much-anticipated game against Barcelona, some rotation will be inevitable.