Huge relief at Newcastle as player responds to major injury fears

Unfortunately, it didn’t quite go to plan. A rather timid attacking performance saw us lose 0-2 to Diego Simeone’s side.

And aside from Julian Alvarez and Antonio Griezmann’s second half goals, the defining moment of the second half came when Anthony Gordon was forced off with an injury scare.

But thankfully, it looks the injury is not as bad as it initially seemed, as both the de-facto striker and Eddie Howe each commented on the scenes.

Posting on his Instagram page, Gordon has given us a positive update on his fitness after many fans feared he is now injured just a week before our first game against Aston Villa.

On his Instagram story, simply wrote: “Just twisted my ankle. No problems. Glad to be back home. Business time next…”

Right now, barring another premium striker being brought in or Alexander Isak being welcomed back into the fold, Gordon will likely start in the no.9 position at Villa Park next Saturday.

So this much-welcome news from the winger will no doubt be a massive sigh of relief for both the squad and our fans, as we almost would have been left with the inexperienced options of Will Osula or Sean Neave on the opening weekend.

Speaking after the game, Howe expressed some cautious optimism surrounding Gordon’s fitness, which hopefully should enable the England international to be available next week.

“We hope he’s ok. It’s an ankle problem. We initially thought it was a muscle. The good news is it’s just a twist. The initial feeling is he should be OK.”

An injury to one of his top stars at this stage of the window would have been catastrophic to our hand in any ongoing or future negotiations.

Thankfully, Yoane Wissa’s move from the GTech Community Stadium to St James’ Park looks to be locked at around £30-35m, though a Gordon injury today could have invited Brentford to quote us closer to the £40-50m mark for their main man.