Newcastle's injury jinx has struck once again after Joey Barton was ruled out for the start of the new Premier League season.
The 24-year-old England international is likely to be sidelined for around six
weeks after fracturing a metatarsal in his left foot during yesterday's 1-1
friendly draw at Carlisle.
He will undergo surgery tomorrow to repair the damage, but with his club's
season due to get under way at Bolton on Sunday, August 19, he will miss the
opening weeks of the campaign.
The injury was confirmed in a statement released through the club's official
website.
It said: 'Newcastle United midfielder Joey Barton will have an operation on
Monday after suffering a foot injury during Saturday's pre-season friendly at
Carlisle United.
'The England international, who was skipper for the 1-1 draw at Brunton Park,
sustained a partial fracture of the fifth metatarsal in his left foot.
'The Magpies expect Joey to return in six weeks.'
The news will come as a blow to both the player and his manager, Sam
Allardyce.
Barton, a £5.8million signing from Manchester City, only made his debut for
the club at Hartlepool on Tuesday evening, and was named captain at Brunton
Park.
He played for 69 minutes, but underwent a scan last night which confirmed the
injury.
However, the damage is not thought to be as serious as that which left new
team-mate Michael Owen facing five months in the treatment room during his first
season on Tyneside following a clash with England colleague Paul Robinson at
Tottenham.
Owen missed the game at Carlisle with a thigh strain picked up in training
just days after he scored his first goal for the club in 19 months against
Hartlepool.
He has managed only 14 competitive appearances in a black and white shirt
since his £17million switch from Real Madrid two summers ago, mainly as a result
of his own metatarsal break and the ruptured anterior cruciate ligament injury
he suffered at last summer's World Cup.
Owen's lay-off was the most significant in a plague of fitness problems which
blighted the Magpies last season as they had to send players for surgery on 13
occasions, many of which resulted in lengthy lay-offs.
Allardyce arrived at St James' Park admitting the club's track record on
injuries had contributed to the respective demises of predecessors Graeme
Souness and Glenn Roeder, and he is busily assembling a backroom team designed
to keep serious injuries to a minimum.
However, fate is once again playing its own part in hampering the club.
Allardyce said: 'Our object for everybody is to make them more aware of their
own bodies, more aware of what they need themselves to progress as footballers.
'The staff is about quarter of the way to where it should be at the moment,
maybe half, so there is more to come, more for us to deliver for them.
'I hope that excites them as much as it seems to have excited them in the
first couple of weeks.
'Our policy is to prevent injuries and make players fitter physically and
mentally, and that means they are more available to be selected for the team and
give more value for money for the supporters and the club itself.
'That has probably been one of the biggest problems over the last two years
here, and arguably has cost the last two managers, Graeme and Glenn, their
jobs.
'That injury record has probably been one of the worst in the country.'
