On Monday morning, news surfaced that Rolando Aarons had suffered yet another injury setback and was on crutches.
The 19-year-old burst onto the scene in pre-season 2014, as he scored and assisted in Newcastle’s Schalke Cup match against the hosts. Alan Pardew rewarded him for his hard work in pre-season with a handful of Premier League appearances.
Aarons sustained a hamstring injury, which was expected to leave him sidelined for six weeks, but he was rushed back in order to face Manchester City in the League Cup – where he netted the winner.
While the Magpies secured victory, it came at a cost as Rolando Aarons has been struggling with recurrences of his hamstring injury since.
In his absence, Newcastle lack a player with pace and confidence to drive at the opposition. Florian Thauvin was expected to be in a similar mould to Aarons and Hatem Ben Arfa, but he has endured a difficult start to life on Tyneside and has seemingly been cast aside by Steve McClaren.
Time for another young Geordie to step up? Cue Callum Roberts.
The 18-year-old combined with Ivan Toney twice on Monday night to help Newcastle under-21s secure victory over Aston Villa.
After the game, he (quoted by Shields Gazette) spoke of his delight to bag a brace and immediately expressed his desire to earn a place in Steve McClaren’s first-team: “Just to get more experience.
I want to make a breakthrough here – that’s the aim this season.
“Maybe I will stay for this season and go out somewhere next year. I can learn from the first team here. If I keep playing well, hopefully I can make the breakthrough and get into the first-team squad.
“Hopefully, I can keep impressing him and catch his [McClaren’s] eye.”
