Newcastle United captain Bruno Guimaraes is close to returning from injury.
Guimaraes hasn’t featured since the 2-1 win away to Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on February 10 after sustaining a hamstring injury in the closing stages.
The 28-year-old was given permission to return to Brazil and undergo the first part of his rehabilitation before returning to Tyneside ahead of the 7-2 Champions League last-16 second-leg defeat against Barcelona.
Guimaraes was present at the Camp Nou to cheer on his teammates and was expected to be in the St James’ Park stands for the Tyne-Wear derby defeat to Sunderland four days later, however, he was forced to isolate after contracting mumps.
““The only reason I’m not at the stadium in Newcastle is that after our flight back from Barcelona, I noticed my face was swollen and thought I was having an allergic reaction,” Guimaraes explained.
“But the next day when I woke up, I realised it was much more than that. I sent a photo to the doctor and he came to examine me. It was confirmed that I have mumps, and I need to remain in isolation for five days and stay away from physical activities for a bit longer.
“My focus now is to recover and be 100% as soon as possible.”
Newcastle United captain Bruno Guimaraes hopes to return against Crystal Palace.placeholder image
Newcastle United captain Bruno Guimaraes hopes to return against Crystal Palace. | Bruno Guimaraes on Instagram
It was a minor setback for the Brazilian but after recovering has now set his sights on a return to action. Taking to Instagram in the last 24 hours, Guimaraes wrote “missing it” followed by several clips of him in action, before posting a photo of him in Newcastle colours with the caption “not long now.”
Newcastle are back in Premier League action in just under a fortnight when they travel to Crystal Palace, with Eddie Howe hoping to have Guimaraes, Lewis Miley and Fabian Schar back at his disposal.
“It will be after the internationals for Lewis,” said prior to the Sunderland defeat. “We anticipate he will be back hopefully after the break and fingers crossed the same for Bruno and also for Fabian.”
Newcastle hope the trio’s return will coincide with a strong end to the campaign as they look to secure European football of some form. As it stands, they sit 12th in the Premier League table.
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