20-year-old Newcastle player pictured in training this week, could have part to play vs Nottingham Forest

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A Newcastle United youngster has been pictured in first-team training ahead of the trip to Nottingham Forest this weekend.

There’s a big concern that Newcastle won’t have Anthony Gordon for this Premier League clash as the winger left St James’ Park on crutches last Saturday.

Not only was Gordon missing from the club’s training pictures, 20-year-old Amadou Diallo was included and could have a role to play with Gordon potentially missing out.

Newcastle academy product could make second appearance vs Forest

Diallo has already made his debut for Newcastle first team earlier this season in the last few minutes of a 4-1 victory against Chelsea at St James’ Park.

The 20-year-old has also featured on the bench multiple times, though he has not done so since the 3-0 defeat at Everton back in December when the team was almost completely ravaged by injuries.

Diallo could be set for a return to the bench this weekend, however, with Gordon possibly ruled out because of his injury, though Eddie Howe does not think it is very serious at all.

In fact, the £45m player was spotted in the Metro Centre earlier in the week without his protective boot on, so there is still hope that he could somehow make the game.

Newcastle are using more of their young players than ever

In years gone by, Newcastle’s academy was effectively useless with very few players actually making it into the first team and anyone with a bit of quality being picked off by a bigger club.

However, with this seemingly never-ending injury crisis, Howe has at times effectively been forced to turn to his academy to seek out some backup players who haven’t played a lot of minutes have needed to be on stand-by.

Lewis Miley is the obvious example of player who has broken through, but the likes of Diallo, Ben Parkinson, Alex Murphy have all featured in the first team this season.

There are also a handful of others who are yet to make their debut but have featured on the bench, though with Newcastle’s injury record this season there’s still plenty of time for them to get another opportunity to play.