Newcastle United fans who are heading to St James’ Park for the Sela Cup this weekend will get to see plenty of talent on display but one man they won’t be seeing yet is Joe Willock.
Former Arsenal man Joe Willock featured in 35 of Newcastle‘s Premier League games last season contributing three goals and six assists to the Magpies’ excellent campaign.
Unfortunately, in the 4-1 over Brighton and Hove Albion Willock pulled up with a hamstring injury which kept him out of the final two games of the season.
Joe Willock hasn’t featured at all for Newcastle in pre-season
The injury was severe enough that it has kept him out of pre-season games too and will unfortunately continue to do so this weekend.
Eddie Howe spoke to the media this morning and confirmed (via The Chronicle) that the Sela Cup will come too soon for Willock: “Joe Willock won’t be involved in either game as he’s still working his way to full fitness or Emil Krafth won’t be involved.”
Emil Krafth is still working his way back from the ACL injury he picked up last August in the Carabao Cup clash with Tranmere Rovers.
If Willock regains his form he should be knocking on the door for England
It stands to reason that if Willock is not fit enough to partake in the final pre-season friendlies, he’s unlikely to be fit enough to feature against Aston Villa next week.
Even if Willock is fit enough to be back in full-training next week, his lack of match sharpness will likely keep him out of the squad for the season opener.
Joe Willock was one of the unsung heroes last season and there were once again calls for Gareth Southgate to sit up and pay attention, but now he’s got to focus on getting back to full fitness before England come knocking, which isn’t beyond the realms of possibility if he picks up where he left off last season.
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