Eddie Howe has claimed Newcastle United defender Sven Botman was urged to undergo surgery on a knee injury earlier this season – but went against advice from the Magpies medical team.

The former Lille defender initially suffered the injury in a 1-0 home win against Brentford earlier this season and went on to feature in a goalless draw with AC Milan and the 8-0 win at Sheffield United over the following week. However, the Dutch centre-back claimed his knee ‘blew up’ in the latter of those games and that ruled him out of action until the middle of December.

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s lunchtime’s home clash with West Ham, Howe said: “It’s a big blow. It’s a complex story with Sven. Initially he had a partial tear (earlier in the season). We sought specialist opinion and there was conflicting reports on what he should do next. Ultimately, our medical team advised him to get surgery, but he wanted to carry on. He has then aggravated that issue.

“He now has a long road ahead of him, but the operation went well so we hope he comes back in a better place. Now we’ll support him and help him back. You can’t force a player to have an operation, no matter what an opinion may be internally. Sven was very certain in his mind what he wanted to do.”

There was a hint of some positive news on the injury front for Howe as he confirmed summer signing Harvey Barnes and full-back duo Kieran Trippier and Tino Livramento could all return to contention for the meeting with David Moyes’ side. However, Howe also revealed United are awaiting news from a specialist on a back injury picked up by young midfielder Lewis Miley on international duty with England Under-19s.

Howe said: ”Lewis has come back to us with a back problem, we are seeking specialist opinion on him, we don’t know exactly what it is right now.”