Newcastle United has coped impressively with an early collection of injuries under Matthias Jaissle, but the club could now be without one of its attacking options for considerably longer than initially anticipated.
William Osula has already missed Newcastle’s victories over West Brom and Tottenham after suffering a foot injury during the 2-2 Premier League draw with Liverpool. Early indications suggested his absence would be relatively brief, but a new report from Denmark has raised concerns over that
timeline.
According to Viaplay’s Thanya Vijayakumar, Osula could be sidelined for a “long time” and revealed that the 23-year-old has continued wearing a protective splint since suffering the injury.
“Viaplay can learn that William Osula is out for a long time after he suffered an injury against Liverpool in the first match of the season,” Vijayakumar reported. “The attacker was injured in the match between Newcastle and Liverpool. Since then, Osula has worn a splint.”
The report also casts doubt on whether Osula will recover in time to join Denmark during the next international window later in September.
That would represent a significant extension from the initial expectations surrounding his injury. Chronicle Live’s Lee Ryder previously reported that Osula could miss “a couple of weeks,” while The Daily Mail’s Craig Hope reported that tests had ruled out a fracture or significant damage.
Nearly two weeks later, however, Osula remains unavailable, and Viaplay’s report suggests his recovery could extend beyond Newcastle’s upcoming run of fixtures.
If Osula remains sidelined until after the international break, he could miss six consecutive games in total, including upcoming Premier League matchups against Bournemouth, Leeds and Hull City, as well as the Carabao Cup trip to Millwall scheduled for next Tuesday.
The situation is more notable following Nick Woltemade’s deadline-day loan move to Juventus, leaving Yoane Wissa as the lone natural striker on the first-team squad. New arrival Matias Fernandez-Pardo, who can play across the forward line, will surely provide additional versatility and find himself on the field more often than not asap, but Osula’s absence will worryingly remove another natural option from Jaissle’s rotation.
How concerned are you by the latest Osula report, and does Newcastle have enough striker depth to cope with a longer absence? Let us know in the comments below.
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