NUFC star ruled out of Sunday's game as Toon trio suffer defeats during World Cup break

Miguel Almiron has been sent home from international duty due to fitness issues, meaning he'll miss their friendly against Colombia in the early hours of Sunday morning.

The 28-year-old started in Paraguay's 1-0 defeat to Peru earlier today, but was taken off at half-time and told to return to Newcastle after experiencing ‘muscle overload‘.

Paraguay haven't qualified for the World Cup, so it's likely our in-form winger will be given some time off by Eddie Howe ahead of our mid-season training camp in Saudi Arabia; running from 4th-10th of December next month.

As reported by Roberto Rojas, it's believed Almiron has not suffered an injury and is instead dealing with fatigue following a busy period of games, making his early return a precautionary measure.

Elsewhere, Fabian Schar's preparations for the World Cup didn't go to plan on Thursday. He started in Switzerland's 2-0 friendly defeat to Ghana and was replaced on the 65-minute mark.

His Swiss side face Cameroon in their Group G opener a week today, with Bruno Guimaraes' Brazil and Aleksandar Mitrovic's Serbia to follow for the Newcastle United centre-back.

Ryan Fraser was also handed a start on Wednesday, playing the opening 45 minutes in Scotland's 2-1 defeat to Turkey.