Newcastle suffer major blow as full extent of Jonjo Shelvey injury now goes public

Jonjo Shelvey looks set to be missing for the first half of the new 2022/23 season after the extent of his recent hamstring injury has proved to be worse than first feared.

As revealed by The Mail's Craig Hope in a Monday night exclusive, the midfielder will now miss the next 12 weeks of action, keeping him out until early November.

The 30-year-old was in London last Friday to see a specialist, and it's now emerged that he had surgery over the weekend following an injury picked up in that 3-2 defeat to Benfica in our final away game of pre-season.

This is a huge blow for Shelvey, who looked in the shape of his life after spending his summer holiday in Turkey doing additional fitness work ahead of pre-season.

As a result of this early blow for Eddie Howe, no loan offers will be considered for Elliot Anderson, who will battle it out with Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton, Joe Willock and Sean Longstaff for a spot in midfield.

A real shame for Shelvey and, with him now set to be missing until after the World Cup, this may just tempt the club to consider our options in the loan market over the final three weeks of the window?

With Isaac Hayden gone and Bruno Guimaraes sometimes wasted in that deeper role, a move for another central midfielder could make sense - especially in a season where we have European ambitions.