Newcastle United’s January loan signing Islam Slimani is yet to make his Magpies debut having aggravated an existing injury in training.
Newcastle United boss Rafa Benitez addressed the media as usual ahead of his side’s weekend league clash against Southampton at St James’ Park.
The Magpies will be looking to bounce back after a tough loss against Liverpool at Anfield, where Benitez’s men were outplayed by a far superior Reds team.
Last week, the Toon were without their star midfield man Jonjo Shelvey, who has been out for a couple of weeks after suffering a knee injury that was originally thought to be fairly serious.
However, Newcastle fans were pleased to hear the the knock was not as bad an initially feared, and the Newcastle boss confirmed today that Shelvey was back training as usual.
Speaking about January loan arrival Islam Slimani, Benitez explained that the Algerian is doing well to regain match fitness, but did not want to put pressure on the striker by naming a specific date for his return.
As reported by the official Newcastle Twitter account, Benitez said: “Jonjo Shelvey has been training. We have to be careful with him and decide tomorrow. Islam Slimani is doing better, Rob Elliot is out and Jesus Gamez is no available.
“Slimani is going well. We have to see. We don’t want to say Huddersfield is the game for him, we will have to see how he progresses.”
Newcastle fans were hugely disappointed when the news broke that Slimani would face a couple more weeks on the sidelines, having arrived at St James’ Park with so much promise. The Toon have been severely lacking in the strike department this season with Joselu, Dwight Gayle, Ayoze Perez and Aleksandar Mitrovic – who has since been loaned to Fulham – not providing the goal threat required up front.
Should Slimani return for the Huddersfield game, he may well make the difference going into the last few games of the season. But, first and foremost, the Algerian must get fit and back in contention to make his highly anticipated debut.
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