Eddie Howe has claimed that one of his Newcastle United players is nearing a return to full fitness ahead of tonight’s game against Blackburn.
Despite the heavy defeat to Arsenal at the week, it’s been a positive week so far for Howe who has welcomed back several first-team members back from injuries.
While captain Jamaal Lascelles has been involved in the squad lately, Howe told the Shields Gazette that the defender is now close to being back to his best after missing a few weeks with a calf injury.
Howe says Newcastle man was still recovering last week
Lascelles picked up a knock in Newcastle’s 1-0 defeat away at Luton Town just before Christmas and it kept the centre-back out for a few weeks before making his return to the bench against Nottingham Forest.
The 30-year-old made a return to first team action by playing the final 17 minutes against Arsenal, a game fans would much rather forget, and may be targeting more minutes in tonight’s FA Cup tie.
Lascelles played a key role for Newcastle before the turn of the year when Sven Botman was out injured, but with the Dutch defender now struggling to regain his top form Howe may want to see if Lascelles can step up again.
The fixture against Blackburn will be an ideal game to test Lascelles and see where his fitness is really at as Howe claims the centre-back was still recovering from his injury just last week.
On Lascelles, Howe said: “Jamaal had a problem with his calf and missed two to three weeks but he’s feeling back to somewhere near full fitness now.
“As much as a week ago he was still nursing his was back and he’s been a big positive to have back on the training ground last week. He’s always an inspiring influence on the training ground.”
Lascelles time at Newcastle could be over
Lascelles only has a matter of months left on his contract and the former Nottingham Forest man was actually close to leaving the club in January when Besiktas showed an interest in him.
However, it’s believed that any potential move had fallen at the last hurdle and with the Turkish side going on to sign Joe Worrall from Forest it put any rumours that Lascelles would be leaving to bed.
Howe is keen to get the experienced defender to sign a new deal as he still views him as being part of his long-term plans at Newcastle, but Lascelles may not be happy being a backup option.
There’s also a possibility that they could sign a new centre-back in the summer pushing Lascelles even further down the pecking order, so it’s still a delicate situation that Howe must approach with caution.
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