‘Finding it hard’: £15m Newcastle man struggling to come to terms with latest injury setback

Newcastle United defender Matt Targett has taken to social media to give an update on his latest injury setback.

28-year-old Targett has had a strange old time as a Newcastle player.

Originally coming in on loan from Aston Villa shortly after Eddie Howe took over, Targett was a massive part of Newcastle's miraculous Premier League survival to the point where Bruno Guimaraes interrupted an end-of-season interview with Targett to shout down the camera that we must make his move permanent.

Matt Targett is struggling to get his head around his latest injury

That's exactly what happened and Newcastle coughed up £15million to make his switch a permanent one. However, early in the season, Targett picked up an injury which forced Eddie Howe to put Dan Burn at left-back. Burn did so well that he kept Targett out of the side when he returned to fitness.

Now, as Newcastle pick up new injuries more regularly than goals, Eddie Howe tried to experiment with Targett's position in the Carabao Cup game against Manchester United, but he never got to see what the outcome was as Targett pulled up with an injury just 90 seconds into the game.

Targett has now given an update on social media about his recovery after undergoing surgery, posting a photo from his hospital bed on X.

Who now plays at left-back with Targett and Burn missing?

“Still finding it hard to get my head around the injury… felt so good going into the United game!! Completely bizarre injury to happen in a couple minutes of the game! Surgery went well yesterday so I’m on the mend. Determined to come back better than ever.”

Shortly after Targett picked up his injury, Newcastle lost Dan Burn meaning Eddie Howe has some decisions to make. Does he give youngster Lewis Hall a run in the side at left-back, or does he ask Kieran Trippier to switch flanks for a while and use Tino Livramento at right-back?

Tino has been exceptional when Eddie Howe has called on him so he would be the outright favourite for us, although Trippier seems a bit off the pace lately, so perhaps give him a rest and use Livramento and Hall. They're both good enough to face Bournemouth we'd like to think.