Ki Sung-yueng is now on his way back to Tyneside after playing just once at the Asian Cup, with the midfielder’s hamstring injury found to be more serious than first feared.
The former Swansea man limped off with a hamstring injury in their opening game and has now been ruled out fo the entire competition – with him expected to be out until ‘at least’ early February according to Lee Ryder.
Today’s reports state that he’s due back at the club’s training ground and will be assessed to fully determine the seriousness of the injury, however it’s another injury blow Benitez’s could’ve done without.
Thankfully Sean Longstaff has come in and done a brilliant job, but with fellow midfielders Mo Diame (hip) and Jonjo Shelvey (thigh) struggling to shake off persistent niggles and Hayden still looking for a January move away, this is something we could’ve done without.
Fingers crossed on Ki. We’ve managed without him so far thanks to the brilliant emergence of Longstaff, but with no date set for Shelvey’s return we are pretty threadbare when it comes to ball playing midfielders.
