Forgotten Newcastle United defender is available to Eddie Howe once again after latest setback

For all the stick we give Callum Wilson for his injury record, he barely holds a candle to former Aston Villa man Matt Targett who we genuinely keep forgetting is still at Newcastle United.

Matt Targett made himself an indispensable member of Eddie Howe's side in the second half of Newcastle's takeover season and the loanee was instrumental in keeping Newcastle in the top flight, with Bruno Guimaraes shouting into TV cameras on the last game of the season begging the club to make Targett's move permanent.

Fans echoed Bruno's sentiments and eventually his loan move was made permanent with Newcastle handing over a further £12 million to Aston Villa on top of the £3 million they had paid as a loan fee.

However, once his move became permanent we started seeing less and less of Targett who seemed to pick up injury after injury.

Serena Taylor/newcastleunited.com

Matt Targett has gotten over his eczema flare up thanks to your thoughts and prayers

His last excuse was that he'd had an eczema flare up, which, as someone who has suffered with head-to-toe eczema all his life, can tell you is a lame excuse for a footballer. It's no picnic, don't get me wrong, but for what he's getting paid to play football, it definitely wouldn't stop me from doing my job. In fact, it never once stopped me from going to school and I'd try and get a day off if someone 10 meters away from me had a cough in the last six months.

With the access he has to top medical professionals I'm sure they could wrap up whatever part of his body is badly affected enough to make it comfortable to play football. I write this as I sit here with sellotape wrapped around the knuckle of one of my fingers to help keep it straight so it doesn't crack when I type - sellotape works fine, so I imagine being treated with skin creams and carefully wrapped bandages would be even better.

Of course I'd probably have a lot more sympathy for Targett if this had come on after a long run in the side where he'd contributed to Newcastle's season, but he has been missing from the pitch for 371 days now having made his last appearance on the 1st November last year.

Just let him go, change the locks at the training ground or something

Since he's been out of the side, Dan Burn has filled in at left-back and managed to hold his own for long enough, but now Lewis Hall has made the position his own with Lloyd Kelly able to deputise and of course, Dan Burn also still able to fill in if we're desperate.

So Targett may now be available for selection as per it would appear via the latest weekly training gallery, but does he even have a spot waiting for him in the side? We don't think so.

It's time to cash in on the 29-year-old in January. And by cash in, I mean just take whatever we can get to get his wages off the books.