29-year-old Newcastle man now aiming to return to action before pre-season ends

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Emil Krafth has set his sights on a return to training before the season gets underway next Saturday when Newcastle United take on Aston Villa at St James’ Park.

Swedish international Emil Krafth has been out of action for almost a year after picking up an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury during the clash between Newcastle and Tranmere Rovers in the Carabao Cup in August last year.

Eddie Howe had hoped that the player who turns 29 today, would be fit to play some part in the closing stages of last season, but with less than two weeks to go until the new season begins, Krafth is still not quite up to speed.

Emil Krafth doesn’t want to rush his return for Newcastle

Speaking to The Athletic, Krafth explained that he hopes to be back in contention soon, saying: “I still hope to be back in pre-season at some point, plus or minus.

“It’s not too long now. When you’ve been out for 11 or 12 months, a few weeks more doesn’t change anything. I don’t want to take any chances. So if you only do six, seven months recovery, the chances are you do it again — and I don’t want to do it again. I don’t want to take that risk and that’s why I’m taking a little bit longer.”

The injury couldn’t have come at a worse time for the £5million signing from Amiens. Towards the back end of the previous season, Newcastle’s new signing, Kieran Trippier picked up a knock which kept him out of the side for eight games meaning Krafth had to fill in.

Krafth had just hit a purple patch before picking up his injury

Naturally fans were worried with Trippier already establishing himself as an important player and Krafth, with all due respect, hadn’t exactly set the world on fire at Newcastle. However, suddenly, under Eddie Howe, Krafth looked like a new player. Fans were beginning to see why he was always picked for Sweden and felt like we actually had decent cover for Tripps.

So when Krafth was picked to play against Tranmere all of our fears were gone – until 39 minutes into the game when he was stretchered off the pitch never to be seen again all season.

It’s unlikely we’ll see his name on the team sheet for a few weeks yet, but hopefully we’ll see Krafth back in action sooner rather than later.