NEWCASTLE have been dealt a major blow, with summer signing Harvey Barnes facing months on the sidelines and potentially needing surgery on the "unusual injury" he suffered at Sheffield United.

Barnes was forced off in the early stages of Sunday’s 8-0 win at Bramall Lane, with Howe describing the injury as "quite substantial" and Newcastle now awaiting a specialist opinion on whether the winger needs to go under the knife.

It’s a major blow for Barnes, who, making just his second start since joining from Leicester City in the summer, was desperate to take his opportunity at Sheffield United, but he now faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines.

Howe said: "It’s an injury to the part of his foot just below the toe. It’s quite a substantial injury. We’ve had it scanned, we’re waiting now for a specialist opinion on what to do next and whether there’s surgery involved or not.

"I don’t think it was a tackle, I think it was just pushing off to run. It’s a very unusual injury. I won’t go too technical because I’m not medically qualified to do so.

"We’re fearing it’s going to be, it’s difficult, I don’t want to put a time on it until we get confirmation from the specialist but we think it will be months rather than weeks.

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"He was down after the game because he knew it wasn’t a normal injury where you feel a muscle and think that might be one or two weeks, this was a slightly more complex issue and I think he probably feared the worst because there was no one around him and it was one of those mechanisms where he knew it wasn’t quite right.

"There’s no doubt he’ll be disappointed because he was very keen to show his value and worth and Sunday was an opportunity to do that. But whatever the injury is, we’ll support him and we know he’s a top quality player and he still has a massive part to play."

Howe also confirmed that Newcastle have a couple of other injury and fitness concern ahead of Wednesday's Carabao Cup third round tie against Manchester City.

He said: "We have a few issues in there. It’s such a big effort, a three-game week does test you and it’s something you have to get used to."