NEWCASTLE UNITED’S medical staff will spend the next couple of days monitoring Matt Ritchie after the winger was forced to pull out of the Scotland squad through injury.

Ritchie will not be involved in tomorrow’s friendly in Hungary after he was withdrawn from the squad that will travel to Budapest later today.

Instead, he will return to Newcastle’s training base on Tyneside to be assessed ahead of this weekend’s Premier League game with Huddersfield Town.

Ritchie played in Scotland’s 1-0 defeat to Costa Rica on Friday and did not appear to be carrying an injury. However, he was plagued by a hernia problem for the majority of last season, and was forced to pull out of international duty on a number of occasions under former Scotland boss Gordon Strachan.

The Scottish Football Association have not disclosed the nature of his latest problem, with Scott McTominay and Grant Hanley also having been forced to pull out of the trip to Hungary.

Magpies manager Rafael Benitez will be hoping Ritchie’s latest set-back is not too serious as the former Bournemouth midfielder has been one of his side’s most influential performers in the last few games.

Ritchie scored the winner against Manchester United and weighed in with another goal as Newcastle claimed a 3-0 win over Southampton in their last outing prior to the international break.