Newcastle star had an injury that medical staff had never seen in football before

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Injuries have not been kind to Newcastle United this season.

Indeed, Eddie Howe has had to deal without a number of key players for much of the campaign.

One of the major absences has been Harvey Barnes. Signed to replace Allan Saint-Maximin last summer, the winger suffered a foot injury in the 8-0 win over Sheffield United back in September and duly missed 27 games across all competitions.

Barnes has returned of late and was hailed as “incredible” for his goal against Luton last month by Howe as Newcastle wait to see the best of him.

Still, the 26-year-old needs time. The player himself has admitted people didn’t really understand the nature of his injury and some more insight has emerged.

Harvey Barnes injury: Newcastle latest news

According to The Daily Mail, Barnes tore the ligaments underneath his toe.

The injury was so strange that no one on the club’s medical team had ever come across it before, leading them to look at other sports for more information and potential avenues for treatments.

There were even fears Barnes could have seen his season ended but, thankfully, Newcastle avoided such a blow.

Harvey Barnes injury record: Newcastle so unlucky

In some ways, the situation surrounding Barnes sums up Newcastle’s rotten luck this season.

According to Transfermarkt data, the forward had only missed a significant period of action once in his career and that came back in the 20/21 season at Leicester, where a knee injury ruled him out of 16 games.

Since then, his appearance record was pretty much perfect up until the start of his Newcastle career.

Luckily, he’s available for Howe once more and hopefully lightning does not strike twice.

Given the nature of his injury, it’s hardly much of a surprise that he will need time to truly get back to his best.