Newcastle star Sven Botman has seemingly refuted claims that his season has come to a premature end following reports he is set for surgery that would rule him out for the remainder of the campaign. The Dutch defender has been sidelined since January with "knee issues" but was reportedly nearing a comeback against Brighton and Hove Albion in the FA Cup.
However, after not featuring in the defeat to the Seagulls, rumours have emerged that the centre-back will be ruled out for the rest of the season and thus miss the Carabao Cup final against Liverpool. An initial post outlining the claims read: "Not only is Botman GUARANTEED to miss the Carabao Cup Final, but his season could be over. On a positive note, the current knee injury is thought to be the opposite to which he done his ACL last season. Is Botman becoming injury prone?"
Botman responded on Instagram with a cryptic message. He posted: "Don't sell b******t" in reply to the post discussing his alleged upcoming operations.
Newcastle have remained silent on Botman's injury situation, with the claims emerging just a day after the Magpies announced that Lewis Hall would miss the rest of the season.
Manager Eddie Howe had previously commented: "Sven was close, did light training [on Saturday], but didn't feel 100% confident in his body, so we decided not to risk him [v Brighton].
"We still hope that he can play a part either in our next game or the game after. Desperate to get him back fit, such a big player, but again we couldn't take a risk with him if he wasn't 100 per cent fit."
Botman was sidelined for the latter part of the 2023/24 season due to an ACL problem and missed the first half of this season with the same issue.
He has clocked up 455 minutes of play in the current campaign for the injury-ridden Toon Army, and missing the Carabao Cup final against Liverpool would be a significant setback.
This article originally appeared on Chronicle Live