Newcastle United midfielder Ki Sung-Yeung is back on Tyneside early from international duty, but he will not be playing club football for a few weeks.
The South Korean has been at the Asian Cup. He has, though, suffered a recurrence of a hamstring injury on Friday and has had to cut his tournament short.
Ki arrived back at Newcastle’s Benton training complex this afternoon and will not be available for this Saturday’s FA Cup tie with Watford.
It is also unlikely he will be fit to face either Manchester City or Tottenham in the next two league dates, and Rafa Benitez will be hoping his absence does not stretch beyond that.
Benitez is already waiting for positive news on the transfer front because he could do with having extra options ahead of the battle to beat the drop.
He is believed to have knocked back an opportunity to swap midfielder Jonjo Shelvey for West Ham striker Andy Carroll because of a shortage of players.
Benitez is only interested in bringing new players in rather than exchanging, and offloading Shelvey in that way would leave a hole in his squad.
Newcastle have been encouraged by the recent displays of youngster Sean Longstaff but it would be a gamble to rely on purely him and the unsettled Isaac Hayden in the run-in. Mo Diame is close to a return though.
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