Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe has admitted the departure of Jonjo Shelvey for Nottingham Forest was "99%" out of his hands with his departure leaving "a hole" in his squad.
The 31-year-old midfielder joined Forest during the January transfer window and has made five appearances so far for Steve Cooper's team. Shelvey has also played the full 90 minutes of the Reds' last two matches, the defeat at Tottenham and home draw against Everton.
It seems his move to the City Ground has also created a dilemma at St James' Park with Howe facing a selection headache in midfield ahead of his side's Premier League clash with Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday (4.30pm kick-off).
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Newcastle will be without the banned Joelinton after the Brazilian reached 10 yellow cards for the season during the 2-0 defeat at Manchester City. it leaves Howe with a straight choice between Joe Willock and Elliot Anderson to replace him against Wolves.
Howe acknowledged that Shelvey's departure was far from ideal when he told ChronicleLive: "Yeah, we are light in midfield. I don't think it was a risk but it wasn't a decision I wanted to take.
"It wasn't a pre-meditated decision for me to say, 'Let's do this and take this risk'. It was 99% out of my hands that Jonjo was going to leave. We sort of feel a bit of a hole has been left with his presence gone, but it's happened and now we have to make the best of the situation."
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