EDDIE HOWE admits he should have taken Bruno Guimaraes off at an earlier stage of Newcastle United’s 1-0 win over Fulham, and concedes that the Brazilian’s ankle injury could force the Magpies to reassess their transfer options this month.

Guimaraes injured his ankle in the early stages of the Magpies’ victory at St James’ Park, but continued playing through to half-time despite being in obvious discomfort.

He left the field in tears at the interval, and will now be sent for a scan to ascertain the extent of the damage, which could keep him out of Newcastle’s two-legged Carabao Cup semi-final with Southampton at the end of the month.

“He was in distress, and he was worried about his ankle after the game too,” admitted Howe. “It was a twist. He felt he could carry on until right at the end of the first half when he signalled to come off. That’s never a good sign from our perspective, and we’ll have to get it scanned and checked out, and see what the damage is. We hope it’s not long term, but at this moment in time, we don’t know.

“Should he have come off a bit earlier? Yeah, probably, with hindsight. But the player wanted to stay on and I always tend to go with the player as long as its not a concussion. The players know how difficult the Premier League is, and they know their bodies better than I do.

“He was probably limping for five minutes or so at the end of that first half, but it’s always a difficult one, right on half-time, to make a change. You like to try to do that in the calm of half-time to make a proper decision. He played very well in the first half, despite the injury.”

Guimaraes went onto social media to tweet about his injury in the immediate aftermath of Newcastle’s win, which came courtesy of Alexander Isak’s 89th- minute header.

“Very sad about today’s injury,” tweeted the Brazilian. “Hopeful it’s nothing serious and that I can do what I love most as soon as possible.”

Guimaraes joins a midfield injury list that already includes Jonjo Shelvey, who is set to be sidelined for around another a month with a calf problem.

To make matters worse, Elliot Anderson was also unavailable for yesterday’s game after suffering a calf injury of his own, and with his midfield resources dwindling dramatically, Howe admits he might have to prioritise the purchase of a replacement before the transfer window closes at the end of the month.

“We’ll see how he (Guimaraes) is,” said the Magpies head coach. “I’ll assess the injury, but we are light in midfield, there’s no doubt about that. We’re missing Elliot (Anderson) as well, who’s another player who can play there, with what we think is a minor calf problem. We’ll get a diagnosis on Bruno’s injury and then make a decision.”

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