'We know': Eddie Howe confirms that £35m man's injury has been diagnosed after weeks of mystery

Eddie Howe has shared an update on Sven Botman as the Dutchman remains sidelined through injury.

The last time Eddie Howe faced the media before the international break he said they weren't sure what the actual issue was with Sven Botman's knee and the player was set to undergo further testing.

So now, as Howe faced the media again ahead of tomorrow's clash with Chelsea, we were hoping for some good news on our £35million Rolls Royce.

Newcastle finally know what the issue is with Botman's knee

If a diagnosis is good news, then we got some, however it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows as our press conferences rarely are this season.

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Howe confirmed that they now know what the issue is but couldn't put minds at ease by offering up a solid target for a return (via The Chronicle).

"We know what his injury is, but we’re unsure at this moment in time how long Sven is going to be out.

"We’re hoping it’s not going to be too long. We’re hoping he can rejoin the group pretty quickly, but there is a chance that might not happen so we’re keeping everything crossed."

Eddie Howe's definition of 'soon' has often differed greatly to ours

The 'not too long' bit would give us a bit of positivity, but after two years of hearing Eddie Howe's optimistic comments on injury timescales we're not getting our hopes up.

In fact, we'll not be expecting to see Botman on the pitch again until we've seen him pictured in full training. It doesn't matter how many times Howe says 'soon', we're treating it like a transfer - it's not official until they're pictured in the shirt.

It just saves the heartbreak, you know?