Newcastle United have been rocked by a summer injury to Elliot Anderson.
The 18-year-old has not appeared for the senior side so far in pre-season and has been unable to make the loan move he was tipped for earlier this year.
Back then Championship side Luton Town were keen to have him until the end of the season from January, but Steve Bruce decided to hold on to the attacking midfielder.
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At that stage Bruce did not expect Newcastle to be dragged into a relegation fight and was hoping to give Anderson more game-time than the two cameo appearances against Arsenal back in January.
As the crisis deepened on Tyneside, Bruce insisted he would not throw Anderson in at the deep end and subsequently the club used the FA Youth Cup to give him minutes.
When asked why Anderson had not appeared this summer, Bruce, speaking to BBC Newcastle, said: "He’s got a problem with his hip that’s a concern to us. We gave him time off over the summer but, unfortunately, that hasn’t cleared the situation up.
"He’s only a kid, so a lot of it is still (to do with) growing."
In better news, Bruce was able to welcome back Javier Manquillo, Joelinton, Fabian Schar and Emil Krafth back to training.
Schar and Krafth were granted extra holiday after their participation in Euro 2020 with Switzerland and Sweden respectively.
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