Newcastle United face a £60 million selection dilemma after three players were unexpectedly called up to the Champions League.
Newcastle United travel to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Tuesday night with a considerably weakened squad.
At least 12 first-team players are expected to be ruled out for the group stage clash, with head coach Eddie Howe looking to Newcastle’s Under-21s squad to fill the void.
Lewis Miley, Ben Parkinson, and Lucas De Bolle have all traveled to Dortmund for the game.
Newcastle will be without Dan Burn, Jacob Murphy, Matt Targett, Sven Botman, Alexander Isak, Elliot Anderson, and Harvey Barnes due to injuries, Sandro Tonali due to a suspension, and Matt Ritchie, Emil Krafth, Javier Manquillo, and Mark Gillespie.
Despite Newcastle’s availability crisis, Howe stated he wouldn’t have it ‘any other way’ in the midst of a hectic game schedule.
“You just see who’s fit and who’s available,” he remarked. “We’ve added a couple of younger players to the squad, but that’s all we can do.”
“You’re always going to get injuries; the problem for us is that a lot of them are on the longer-term scale, which means there’s no relief in sight, which means you’re in a dangerous position every game you play.”
“We wouldn’t have it any other way, and we’ve really enjoyed the games we’ve had; it’s just that they’ve come at a cost recently with injuries that you can’t plan for.”
“Dan going up for a header and falling on his back, that could happen at any moment and unfortunately for us it’s happened at the wrong time.”
Burn’s injury forced Newcastle to play the second half against Arsenal with Kieran Trippier at left-back and Tino Livramento at right-back, something Howe will contemplate again on Tuesday night.
“It’s an option for us,” he continued. “I’m not going to say what we’re going to do with certainty because I don’t want to give away my team, but it’s certainly an option.”
“Lewis [Hall] will be an additional option for us.” I recall him starting incredibly well in the Manchester United game, where he was a genuine attacking option for us and scored a wonderful goal. He’s in a fantastic place.”
