24-year-old Newcastle man still facing weeks out with injury despite hopes he could return on Saturday

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Newcastle United’s injury troubles have continued with one player now believed to be weeks away from returning despite hopes that he’d be available to play against Manchester City.

Joe Willock has featured just six times for Newcastle this season across all competitions after having to deal with a hamstring injury from last season before then picking up a problem with his Achilles tendon in November.

A new report from The Athletic now suggests that the midfielder will still be out for a matter of weeks despite rumours that he was targeting the game against Man City to make his return

Newcastle have really missed Willock’s energy this season

In a campaign where Newcastle have at times looked sluggish on the ball and in need of a bit of pace, Willock’s absence has really been felt particularly in the last month or so.

There was a brief period in which the midfielder returned from his hamstring injury and was showing exactly why Newcastle needed him for his energetic runs into the box.

Willock even bagged himself a brilliant goal against Manchester United in a 3-0 victory in the Carabao Cup, though he would soon be out again after picking up a new injury.

With Joelinton now also expected to be missing for January, Newcastle have a major problem in midfield and will likely have to rely on the young Lewis Miley once again in big games against Manchester City and Aston Villa.

Newcastle need reinforcements to avoid another injury crisis

Newcastle have already seen how their form can take a huge downward turn when too many players are out injured and the ones who are fit are too fatigued to be playing at the best of their ability.

Particularly in midfield, the squad is still looking quite thin despite getting a handful of names back into the team in the last few weeks, and it’s exactly why Kalvin Phillips is a big target.

Whether or not they can afford to bring in more than just one player, given that they’re struggling over the loan fee for Phillips, is another matter entirely.

They simply have to bring in some new faces or they run the risk of enduring another injury crisis like we saw last month which caused the team to lose seven out of eight.