Last season's injury curse at Newcastle United didn't end when the final ball of the season was kicked and it managed to take one more player with it during the summer.
Young midfielder, Lewis Miley, who missed the end of the last campaign after suffering a back injury while on international duty, then went on to pick up a freak foot injury when he returned to training.
The injury required surgery and Miley was ruled out until early October.
It will have been a huge blow to the 18-year-old academy product after breaking into the first-team and staking a claim to be part of the starting XI while Eddie Howe's squad choices were diminished.
It wasn't all just a case of there being a lack of options for Howe as Miley had some star turns in the black and white last season.
Now Chris Waugh has provided an update on Miley's return via The Athletic's Q&A.
Waugh says that the club are happy with his progress and he remains pencilled in for a return in October, but rather than early October, Waugh expects Miley to return to training during the international break next month.
The midfielder who was hailed as 'unreal' by Harrison Ashby, may find things a bit more difficult to find his way back into the first team this time around, however.
Sandro Tonali is back in contention after serving his 10-month ban, and all being well with Joe Willock's latest thigh injury, then he will provide another rung on the ladder for Miley to climb.
It seems like Howe will soon be spoilt for choice when it comes to putting together a midfield each week.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
21 | 30 | 50 |
2 |
Arsenal
|
22 | 22 | 44 |
3 |
Nottingham Forest
|
22 | 11 | 44 |
4 |
Chelsea
|
22 | 17 | 40 |
5 |
Manchester City
|
22 | 15 | 38 |
6 |
Newcastle United
|
22 | 12 | 38 |
7 |
Bournemouth
|
22 | 10 | 37 |
8 |
Aston Villa
|
22 | -1 | 36 |
9 |
Brighton
|
22 | 5 | 34 |
10 |
Fulham
|
22 | 4 | 33 |
11 |
Brentford
|
22 | 1 | 28 |
12 |
Crystal Palace
|
22 | -3 | 27 |
13 |
Manchester United
|
22 | -5 | 26 |
14 |
West Ham United
|
22 | -16 | 26 |
15 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
22 | 10 | 24 |
16 |
Everton
|
21 | -10 | 20 |
17 |
Wolves
|
22 | -19 | 16 |
18 |
Ipswich
|
22 | -23 | 16 |
19 |
Leicester
|
22 | -25 | 14 |
20 |
Southampton
|
22 | -35 | 6 |