Newcastle's Premier League survival hopes have been dealt a major blow by the news leading scorer Callum Wilson may not return from injury until the final weeks of the season.
Th £20million striker has been out of action since damaging a calf muscle during the 1-1 draw with Manchester United on 27 January and was initially expected to be sidelined for eight weeks.
However, speaking at his pre-match press conference ahead of Tuesday night's crunch clash with Everton, head coach Eddie Howe said: "There's a time when he's due back, but as always with these types of injury, it's not absolutely clear. We go more on how he feels than necessarily a specific time given by the physios or doctors.
"It's been slow progress for him since the initial injury. He was recently on crutches - I think he's come off those crutches now and is walking normally, which is a big step.
"But you can see by that update that I'm giving you it's quite slow, so we all wish Callum to come back as quickly as possible, but when he comes back, he's got to be fit and ready to give his best, so we're helping him with that, obviously, day to day.
"But I don't think it's going to be short-term. Hopefully he can make the last few games of the season and really help us in the key moment."
The Magpies signed Chris Wood from Burnley in a £25m swoop last month but failed in their attempts to add further striker power to cover for Wilson, who has six goals to his name to date this season, as moves for Manchester United's Jesse Lingard and Reims' Hugo Ekitike fell through.
Meanwhile the club looks to have enticed Dan Ashworth to take up a technical director role at the club after resigning from a similar role with Brighton.
Ashworth joined Brighton from the Football Association in 2019 and has been linked with a role at the Magpies for a number of months.
Brighton said that, in line with his contract, Ashworth would now start "an extended period of gardening leave, after which he will be able to take up a new position elsewhere".
Former Scotland international David Weir will become Brighton's acting technical director with immediate effect, stepping up from his assistant role.
Ashworth will continue to report to deputy chairman and chief executive Paul Barber for any duties required during his notice period but is not expected to attend the club's premises or matches once the handover to Weir is completed later this week.
