JOE WILLOCK is set to be sidelined until mid-September as he continues to recover from the hamstring injury he sustained at the end of last season.

Willock was forced to sit out the final few matches of last term after damaging his hamstrings, and while he was part of the squad that travelled to the United States for the Premier League Summer Series, he did not feature in any of Newcastle United’s pre-season games.

He was complaining of fresh pain earlier this month, resulting in the Magpies’ medical staff scaling back his training programme.

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As a result, he will not be considered for the opening game of the Premier League season against Aston Villa tomorrow, and is not expected to be available until the end of the September international break.

“Joe’s worked hard through the summer,” said Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe. “He’s had a really bad hamstring injury. It was a serious injury to his hamstring, and he obviously missed the end of last season and was working back through pre-season.

“He just felt a bit of discomfort in his hamstring, not necessarily another pull to the area, just a bit of discomfort, but we’ve had to lock him down again and he’s in the process of building himself back up now. I think we’ll probably miss him for the first group of games before the first international break.”

While Willock will not be available to face Villa, Fabian Schar should be back in the squad after missing last weekend’s Sela Cup double-header against Fiorentina and Villarreal. The Swiss centre-half has been sidelined since hobbling out of the pre-season game against Chelsea in the United States.

“As we currently stand, yes he (Schar) will be in the squad,” said Howe. “He has trained this week, and trained well. He was back with us on Tuesday, so he’s had a full week’s training.”