Eddie Howe gives update on Sven Botman that Newcastle United fans won't like

Towards the back end of last season Newcastle United lost Sven Botman and Jamaal Lascelles to ACL injuries putting both centre-backs out of commission until the new year.

The fact that Newcastle suffered these long-term injuries in rapid succession really typified what was a really weird season for injuries for Newcastle but it also saw the Magpies spend way too long in the summer chasing Crystal Palace centre-back Marc Guehi to fill the void.

However, now that both players are expect back sooner rather than later, there's a feeling that Newcastle's transfer priorities have shifted.

That being said, we may not be getting our defenders back as soon as we had hoped.

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Fans were hoping to see Sven Botman back this year

The projection was always that Botman and Lascelles would likely return to full training in December, but Botman has been teasing fans with social media posts suggesting that he is closer to a return than we were being led to believe.

Despite that, Eddie Howe has given an update this morning which suggests that we may have to wait a bit longer to see the big Dutchman back in black and white, telling the media (via The Chronicle) that we're looking at January.

"We hope Sven can begin light training in the next few weeks. If we see him before the end of the year that would be a bonus. We are probably looking at more like January."

January was likely always the plan for Botman

It's likely that January was always the plan for his return and that the December projection was more about when he'd return to training rather than be available for selection.

While it's not ideal that we have to wait longer to see Botman back in action, we'd much rather they are 100% sure he's ready to return than rush him back and end up damaging his knee again.

Lessons have to be learned from last season and one of the big lessons was that patience is a virtue.