Sven Botman is making “positive steps” towards a return in a Newcastle United shirt – but is still expected back around December.
The Dutchman has posted some encouraging signs on his social media account in recent days but Eddie Howe is keen to manage the expectations on the centre-back. Having suffered an ACL injury last season and been pushed to play through the pain barrier, Howe is prepared to be cautious.
Delighted to see Botman move forward without any setbacks., Howe said: “I think he’s progressing as we’d expect. I don’t think we expect to see him any time this month, it’ll be small but positive steps.”
Newcastle originally stated back in March that Botman would be out for nine months when he came off against Manchester City in the FA Cup exit with the concerning injury. United boss Howe will also use the next fortnight to assess Callum Wilson and Alexander Isak’s fitness levels.
Wilson has not played for six months but Howe stated last Friday he hopes to welcome him back against Brighton & Hove Albion following the international break. Isak pulled out of the Sweden squad due to problems with a broken toe.
Howe told Chronicle Live: “We’ll be delighted to get them back if we can. There’s no guarantee though. We hope the next two weeks will allow us to see both of them in training, but we’ll see. Hopefully, they’ll be fit for Brighton.”
In the immediate aftermath of the 0-0 draw with Everton, and Anthony Gordon’s penalty miss, Howe was asked if his team would have won the game with his strikers available. The head coach has not had Isak and Wilson together in a squad since Burnley away at the end of last season.
He said: “You’re always going to miss your strikers if they’re not fit. If you take any focal point number nine out of a team, you’re going to miss them.”
Howe was not given a new senior centre-forward by the powers that be last summer but instead the club signed William Osula. The ex-Sheff United man was branded as a “Jason Tindall recommendation” when he was unveiled.
But Howe has been reluctant to use him for more than seven minutes of Premier League action in the opening seven matches. He said: “I think the two that we’ve been missing are top players. They’re both different, of course, but I think you could see there were elements of our game (against Everton) that were just slightly missing.