Journalist Dominic Scurr believes that Jonjo Shelvey may well return for Newcastle United this month.
It was a huge blow for Newcastle, Eddie Howe and Shelvey during pre-season when he picked up an injury against Benfica after putting in a huge amount of work during the off-season to ensure he was in top condition for a big campaign.
The initial diagnosis made it questionable as to whether or not Shelvey would be back for the Magpies before the winter break, with Newcastle’s final game coming on 12th November – but the midfielder appears to be way ahead of schedule.
This is according to Scurr, who has been speaking about Shelvey’s return from injury on the Loaded Mag NUFC YouTube channel.
He said: “Shelvey, in pre-season, I thought was one of Newcastle’s best players – and certainly in the Benfica game where he got injured I thought he was running the show, to be honest. It’s a shame that after he went off injured, Newcastle went on to lose the game.
When fit, should Shelvey start for Newcastle?
Yes!
No!
“He has been a big miss, I think an underrated player in the system Eddie Howe plays, given how he frees up Bruno.
“In terms of the injury, Eddie Howe is hopeful and pleased with the progress Shelvey’s been making, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him return to full training very soon, we could even see him back before the end of the month.”
TIF Thoughts on Jonjo Shelvey…
This was – and still is – set up to be a big season for Shelvey, who isn’t getting any younger. And for that reason, he may well have felt his place in the Newcastle side was going to be under threat.
Also, with Shelvey confirming during pre-season that he would earn himself an automatic extension if he played three more games for the Magpies, to have picked up an injury before the campaign kicked off will have made him doubt his own future.
Shelvey is set to become a free agent at the end of the campaign as things stand, so he will be itching to get back out on the pitch and earn himself that new deal and prove to people he still has a big role to play under Howe on Tyneside.