‘Perfect’ £35m Newcastle man could now be in contention to start against Brighton
Sunday saw a double blow to Newcastle United as they threw away a one goal lead against 10-man Liverpool but just as bad as that the Rolls Royce Sven Botman hobbled off the pitch.
Sven Botman limped off the pitch on 87 minutes and while noises from inside Newcastle United suggested it wasn’t as bad as it looked but he could be out of contention for a couple of weeks, but now inews has reported some potential good news.
The 23-year-old Dutchman has been nothing short of outstanding since he joined from Lille in a £35million deal last summer forming a rock-solid partner ship with Fabian Schar as part of the joint-best defence in the Premier League last term.
Newcastle are hoping Sven Botman will return for Saturday’s game
Former England goalkeeper Ben Foster said Botman was ‘literally perfect‘ for Newcastle and it’s hard to disagree with that statement, so seeing him hobble off late in the game on Sunday was a heart-stopping moment for fans.
While the immediate news that he’d be out for a couple of weeks wasn’t great, it was offset slightly by the fact that there’s an international break following the game against Brighton on Saturday so he wouldn’t miss too many games.
Now inews has reported that there’s hope amongst Newcastle staff that Botman could return for the Brighton game but Jamaal Lascelles is still on standby should Botman not make it.
Eddie Howe also has the option of moving Dan Burn into the left centre-back role and using Matt Targett at left-back as he did when Botman exited the pitch on Sunday. Howe also has Lewis Hall for left-back but he’s stated that he’s not quite match fit.
Botman’s injury shows how much Newcastle lack depth in defence
One thing that Botman’s injury has done is highlight just how short we are on quality defensive options when we pick up injuries or suspensions.
The transfer window closes tomorrow night and as things stand it looks like Newcastle are done with their incoming business, so that leaves us with Jamaal Lascelles and Paul Dummett as defensive cover which, with the best will in the world, is not good enough for where we are and where we want to be.
Fingers crossed Botman is fit for Saturday and all appendages crossed we manage to bring in another centre-back before tomorrow’s deadline.