Newcastle United defender Sven Botman will miss the rest of the Premier League season and Euro 2024 after suffering a serious knee injury.
The 24-year-old picked up the injury in Newcastle’s 2-0 defeat to Manchester City in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and further assessment has confirmed an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) issue.
Botman will undergo surgery to correct the problem, with Newcastle estimating an absence of between six and nine months, and have a watching brief as the Netherlands compete at Euro 2024.
Although not yet capped at senior level, Botman was part of the Dutch party for October’s Euro 2024 qualifier against France – opponents they will face again after being drawn together in Group D alongside Austria.
The Netherlands, managed by former Barcelona and Southampton manager Ronald Koeman, forutunately are well stocked in the centre-back department, led by Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk. Nathan Ake, Matthijs de Ligt and Stefan de Vrij are the other senior options, ably supported by the upcoming duo of Micky van de Ven and Jorrel Hato.
Botman’s injury is more of a concern for Newcastle, though, who are facing an uphill battle to qualify for European competition for the second season in a row. The Magpies finished fourth last season under Eddie Howe to qualify for this season’s Champions League, immediately rewarding the club’s hefty investments in Botman, Alexander Isak, Anthony Gordon and Bruno Guimaraes among others.
But they’ve been unable to maintain their momentum this time around, impacted by an extensive injury list that has affected many key players – Botman one of those to have missed a significant amount of game time after spending three months on the shelf with a different knee problem.
Newcastle are currently 10th in the Premier League table and trail seventh-placed West Ham United by four points after losing 12 of their 28 games. They have particularly struggled in defence, shipping 48 goals already compared to 33 in the entirety of the 2022/23 season.
