Newcastle winger Harvey Barnes suffered a “substantial injury” in Sunday’s win at Sheffield United and is expected to be sidelined for “months rather than weeks.”
Barnes, a £38million signing from Leicester City in the summer, limped off after 12 minutes at Bramall Lane – the only negative on an afternoon when Newcastle thrashed the hapless Blades 8-0.
Speaking ahead of Wednesday night’s EFL Cup clash with Manchester City at St James’ Park, boss Eddie Howe confirmed the 25-year-old was facing a lengthy spell on the treatment table.
He said: “It’s an injury to a part of the foot just below the toe, I think it’s quite a substantial injury.
“We’ve had it scanned, we’re waiting now for a specialist’s opinion on what to do next, whether there’s surgery involved or not. I don’t want to put a time on it until we get confirmation from the specialist, but I think it will be months rather than weeks.”
🤕 An update from Eddie Howe on the injury Harvey Barnes sustained at Bramall Lane on Sunday.
“It’s an injury to his foot, just below the toe, and I think it’s quite a substantial injury. We’ve had the scans and now we’re waiting now a specialist opinion on what’s next and… pic.twitter.com/BdaoD3dUfk
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) September 26, 2023
Howe is likely to ring the changes against the European champions, especially with a congested schedule due to their involvement in the Champions League.
He added: “I need to assess everybody physically first from Sunday. There’s a couple of players carrying certain injuries.
“We do have players that are really keen to play and show what they can do. We will have to utilise the squad, especially with what we have coming up next week.”
