Eddie Howe now puts realistic timeline on Sven Botman's return after Dutchman's social media post

Sven Botman had to undergo surgery on an ACL injury at the back end of last season with Newcastle United claiming at the time we'd not see him in action again this year.

Jamaal Lascelles picked up a similar injury and got the same treatment with the same prognosis, but while Lascelles has always looked as though the initial estimate for his return was correct, Botman has been teasing fans with updates on social media for a while now.

Many fans have been led to believe that Botman has Wolverine's healing factor and would be back in action much sooner than the new year, and perhaps even Botman himself has bought into this hype.

However, under the watchful eye of James Bunce, players will not be rushed back from injury too soon in a bid to avoid a similar injury catastrophe to last season.

Eddie Howe says Sven Botman will return to training after the next international break

Eddie Howe has now given an update to the media to temper expectations of an early return to action for Sean Longstaff's man crush.

"He’s hitting the right strength markers, he’s looking really good. We probably won’t see him training until after the next international break. He is closing in but it’s a long road. The reality is we’re probably looking more towards Christmas time."

It definitely sounds like they are doing things properly now with Botman looking to be given a month of training before Howe even thinks about throwing him into a match.

We can't wait to have Botman back in the side

Newcastle's defence has certainly not been as tight since Botman started suffering with knee problems, even before his ACL injury he looked off the pace.

Hopefully everything is being managed correctly and when he does return to action, he's the big Dutch beast we all remember from his first season in charge and the one that Sean Longstaff fell hopelessly in love with.

We're sure that Jamaal Lascelles won't be far behind him too, but by then we'll be in the January transfer window and having fun with Steve Parish again by the sounds of things.