Newcastle’s Bruno Guimaraes out for weeks rather than months with ankle injury

Newcastle midfielder Bruno Guimaraes will be out for a few weeks instead of months after a scan on his injured ankle revealed no serious damage.

There were fears the Brazilian may have suffered a torn ligament during Sunday’s 1-0 win over Fulham when boss Eddie Howe said afterward that the player was still somewhat distraught, adding “that’s never a good sign.” .

The 25-year-old left the field in tears at half time after spraining his ankle and playing for 25 minutes. Howe later admitted that perhaps he should have made the substitution before the break.

Newcastle star Bruno Guimaraes was left in a lot of pain after spraining his right ankle on Sunday.

The Brazilian midfielder cried as he left the pitch at half-time in the match against Fulham

Guimaraes was sent to a scanner on Monday and sports mail may reveal that the results are positive. We understand that you expect a period of at least a week, or weeks, in the treatment room, but not much longer.

That could still mean he will miss both legs of the Carabao Cup semi-final against Southampton, scheduled for January 24 and 31, but Newcastle will know more in the coming days. Guimaraes has been instrumental in the team’s rise to third in the Premier League and Howe will surely be relieved that news of the injury isn’t too dire.

However, his likely absence at Crystal Palace this weekend will highlight just how thin Newcastle are in midfield numbers. Jonjo Shelvey faces another month out with a calf injury, leaving only Sean Longstaff, Joe Willock and Joelinton available.

Howe plays three in the middle of the park, and with Joelinton currently performing so well on the left wing, it leaves the head coach with the option of changing the formation or changing personnel. Allan Saint-Maximin could return to the wide area and Joelinton returned to midfield.

Manager Eddie Howe will be relieved that Guimaraes will be out for weeks instead of months.

Newcastle could look to bring in midfield reinforcements, such as Wolves star Ruben Neves.

Howe is also likely to bolster his case for a midfield reinforcement in the transfer market. He likes players with Premier League pedigree and has talked about Leicester’s Youri Tielemans, Wolves’ Ruben Neves, Manchester United’s Scott McTominay and Chelsea pairing Conor Gallagher and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

The British-based club’s owners have good ties to Chelsea and are monitoring the situation at Stamford Bridge, given the glut of veteran players.

However, most of those names would not be easy businesses to do in January. Wolves and United want to keep Neves and McTominay respectively beyond this month, while Gallagher would prefer to stay at Chelsea.

Tielemans is out of contract this summer, but Leicester’s loss of form means they are likely to need him in a relegation fight.