'Setback': £10m Newcastle man now set to miss the rest of the season after injury setback - journalist

Another day another Newcastle United injury to report. This is getting very tedious now.

There was a point in the very recent past that the term "light at the end of the tunnel" was being thrown around by people discussing Newcastle's injury woes this season, and for a while there, that light was bright enough that it was starting to cast shadows, but it seems that somebody found the dimmer switch again.

Sven Botman and Jamaal Lascelles have both been ruled out for pretty much the rest of the year within a fortnight of each other with the exact same injury, while during Saturday's game at West Ham Tino Livramento and Miguel Almiron both had to be replaced after picking up injuries.

Kieran Trippier, who was expected to be back for the West Ham game after being missing for a month, is still 50/50 going into tonight's game against Everton.

Pope will now miss the rest of the season

Now, North East-based journalist Joel Bland posted on X this morning that Nick Pope has suffered a setback in his recovery from the shoulder injury that has seen him sidelined since early December and is likely to miss the rest of the season.

Pope was expected back in action this month, which was something to look forward to after the exploits of our second-choice 'keeper Martin "The Colander" Dubravka.

Newcastle are being linked with signing a new goalkeeper in the summer, and we questioned whether we need to replace Pope or simply bring in someone to deputise for him, but that question is starting to answer itself.

Newcastle must now put together a winning streak with Dubravka in goal. Fun!

There's no doubt that Pope is clearly the better goalkeeper in our ranks, but question marks remain over his distribution and his comfort with the ball at his feet.

To truly push on as a team we need a 'keeper we can trust to play it back to without our hearts leaping into our mouths, and, now, one that can stay fit for an entire season.

Having Pope back was going to be that extra little push we needed to see us through the remaining games this season as we fight for European qualification, now, having to rely on Dubravka, we're not sure how this is going to go.