Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe says patience is the watchword when it comes to Alexander Isak - but the Toon boss was coy when asked whether Callum Wilson will be ready to face his old club Bournemouth on Tuesday night.
The Magpies face the Cherries in the last 16 of the League Cup at St James' Park in front of a sell out crowd. Isak is still recovering from a thigh injury and has not been spotted training over the winter break.
Wilson picked up a muscle strain and did not feature in the 2-1 win over Rayo Vallecano despite being on the bench for England against France last weekend at the World Cup.
READ MORE: Newcastle United vs Rayo Vallecano highlights
Howe addressed the two injuries after the narrow friendly victory against the La Liga side. Howe said: "With Alex, there was no fixed return date on him. I think the medical team have just tried to look at his recovery day by day, and try and get him in the best physical place he can be in the ideal time.
"We hoped to have him fit and available for the Bournemouth game, but I don’t think that’s going to look likely. We’ll just take it on a game-by-game basis. It’s a difficult one.
"We haven’t got a return date on him. He's with the medical team at the moment, and he’s working hard and making progress. "I can’t give you a return date."
Whether Wilson is fit in time for Tuesday remains to be seen. But just as there was a slight surprise when Nick Pope and Kieran Trippier returned to the team against Rayo, another international coming back sooner than anticipated could be on the cards.
Howe added: "We've only seen Callum briefly, but I don't want to give too much away, to be honest."
Newcastle's win over the La Liga side kept their run of three successive victories intact after beating Al-Hilal and Rayo. Howe said: "It was really good, just the test we needed.
"Vallecano have been very good this season, a really strong team. They play, in essence, like a Premier League team, a very aggressive, front-foot team.
"I thought there was some really good stuff from us, especially in the first half. The second half was a bit bitty with a lot of substitutions. Overall, very pleased."
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