Newcastle United may have some growing concerns coming out of their friendly game on Thursday in Saudi Arabia over the fitness of Joelinton.
This has been suggested by the reliable Toon journalist Craig Hope who has been reporting from the Newcastle camp on his YouTube channel.
Amid the winter World Cup, the remaining players at Eddie Howe’s disposal jetted off on a warm weather camp to the middle east where they took part in a friendly game against Al Hilal.
It was a convincing 5-0 win for the Tyneside club who will now return home in the coming days to prepare for the Carabao Cup clash against Bournemouth and the restart of the Premier League.
However, it was not all smooth sailing for Howe’s men with Joelinton forced off after feeling a tweak in his hamstring, which has left Hope concerned:
(2:50) “Joelinton, I’d be slightly more concerned about because Eddie said that he felt his hamstring. Now he thinks he’s okay. Eddie said it was nothing to worry about. But we have heard those sorts of noises before so a little bit of a concern especially given how good Joelinton was in the first half. He was the one player who looked up and at it, he was terrific.”
TIF Thoughts on Hope’s comments…
This will certainly be a big worry for all those at Newcastle with Joelinton having become such an integral part of Howe’s side over the course of the last year.
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Just this season alone, the Brazilian has made 13 appearances in the Premier League where he has been able to return a goal and an assist (via Transfermarkt).
However, with Bruno Guimaraes away at the World Cup with his nation, the last thing Howe will have wanted during this winter break is for one of his starting midfielders to pick up an injury.
After the game, Howe provided an early update on the 26-year-old who he will be hoping isn’t too badly affected by the injury concern:
“Joelinton felt a tightness in his hamstring. I don’t think it’s a pull or anything. Fingers crossed, they’re not too bad,” said Howe.