Newcastle United have have just received a major injury boost on the eve of their Carabao Cup clash with Manchester City.
The Magpies are set to be without Harvey Barnes, who looks like he is going to miss a few months of action due to a foot injury that he sustained in the 8-0 win over Sheffield United.
That is a crushing blow, but as one door closes another appears to have opened.
The club have released 23 training photos ahead of Wednesday night’s game against Manchester City, where Eddie Howe is expected to make changes to his side.
We have predicted that the Toon manager will make as many as nine changes to the team that beat Sheffield United, but one player we did not anticipate returning was Joelinton.
Joelinton spotted back in Newcastle training
However, the latest update from the club may have provided a sneaky hint that he is actually back in training.
Joelinton has missed Newcastle’s last three games with a knee injury, but Howe did recently state that he hoped the 27-year-old would potentially return before the international break.
And it looks like that might actually be happening. The Brazilian ‘machine‘ appears to have been spotted in the training pictures that the club have uploaded to their official website.
Eagle-eyed fans might be able to spot Joelinton in picture number 15 out of 23.
The main focus of the image is Sandro Tonali shaking hands with Eddie Howe, but there is a very tall player with dyed-blonde hair in the background that looks like it can’t be anyone other than Joelinton.
A return for the midfielder was not mentioned during Howe’s pre-match press conference, but surely it is him? It can’t be anyone else. No one else in the Newcastle squad has that style of hair. Anthony Gordon has blonde hair, but the man in the picture is much taller than he is.
By the looks of things, Joelinton is back, and the timing could not be any better following the disappointing news involving Barnes.
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