Newcastle United midfielder suffers ‘serious’ injury following ‘innocuous’ incident

Here, we round-up all the latest stories that have emerged today from St James’s Park and beyond:

Longstaff suffers ‘serious’ injury

Newcastle United loanee Matty Longstaff has suffered a ‘serious’ injury whilst on-loan at Colchester United. He was stretchered off late into the clash between Colchester and Gillingham on Boxing Day and U’s boss Matt Bloomfield has revealed he could be set for a long period on the sidelines:

“Matty looks like he's sustained a serious knee injury. Matty's just gone to turn and something has gone in his knee.

“It was really innocuous in terms of the fact that there was no tackle; it was just him turning. I hope it's not as bad as first feared but sometimes, the worst ones are.”

Ciaran Clark’s Blades impact

Elsewhere, Ciaran Clark scored his first goal for Sheffield United as he helped the Blades edge past fellow promotion hopefuls Coventry City. Clarke’s header just seven minutes into the second half doubled United’s lead and helped his side on their way to an eventual 3-1 win - despite being reduced to ten-men 13 minutes from time following John Egan’s dismissal.

The 33 year old joined the setup at Bramall Lane in the summer but a hamstring injury has limited him to just seven appearances all season. Clark and Sheffield United currently sit in 2nd place in the Championship table and are eight points ahead of Blackburn Rovers, managed by former Magpie Jon Dahl Tomasson.

Real Madrid ‘show interest’ in Newcastle United target

Newcastle United will reportedly face stiff competition from Real Madrid if they are to sign Fran Garcia from Rayo Vallecano next month. Garcia, 23, is a highly-rated left-back that featured for 45 minutes in Vallecano’s recent friendly outing at St James’s Park.

Garcia came through the ranks at Real Madrid’s Castilla (Their B-Team) but failed to make a senior appearance for Madrid. However, his form since joining city neighbours Vallecano in 2021 means Los Blancos could move for the defender next month.

Garcia is reportedly keen on a move back to the Santiago Bernabeu and Newcastle will likely have to trigger the defender’s £8.8million release clause if they are to sign him when the transfer window reopens.