Newcastle United: Jonjo Shelvey to miss three months with hamstring injury

Shelvey had an operation in London this week to repair the hamstring damage that was sustained during pre-season, and that kept the 30-year-old out of last weekend’s opening-day win over Nottingham Forest.

With his recovery expected to take around 12 weeks, there is every chance that Shelvey will miss the entire Premier League programme between now and the break for the winter World Cup in Qatar in mid-November.

Assuming that proves to be the case, the midfielder will not be available for first-team duty until the Premier League programme resumes on Boxing Day, when Newcastle are due to head to Leicester City.

Howe said: “It was quite a complex one. We had a number of scans and opinions because we wanted to make the right call. It wasn’t a clear or simple injury.

“He’s had an operation and is expected to be out (for) around 12 weeks. He was very disappointed, obviously, he worked very hard in pre-season and looked in really good physical shape.

“It was a real shame for him and for us, but he’s on the road to recovery now and is in a much better place after the operation mentally. We’re looking forward to getting him back.”

When Isaac Hayden suffered an injury that was expected to keep him out for most of the second half of last season, Howe decided to exclude the midfielder from his Premier League squad in order to free up an extra place for someone else.

The Magpies head coach could opt to do the same thing with Shelvey this time around, although as things stand, he is minded to keep the absentee as part of his 25-man group.

“I’d say he’ll be in the squad, without giving 100 per cent guarantees, because we need to see how his rehab goes,” said Howe. “If there’s a chance he’ll be back to play, which at the moment we think there is, he will be in that squad.

“If that changes, and it looked like he wouldn’t (be available), obviously there might be a different discussion.”