Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe has revealed that Alexander Isak is likely to be sidelined through injury until after the World Cup.
The club-record signing made a strong start to his Magpies career, contributing two goals in his opening three starts in the Premier League.
However, the 23-year-old has not made an appearance since suffering a thigh injury on international duty with Sweden towards the end of September.
The former Real Sociedad man had been due to return to the squad for the club's most recent fixtures, but Howe has acknowledged that will no longer be the case.
As quoted by Chronicle Live, the Englishman said: "Alex has re-injured his thigh. It's a very similar injury to the first one that he picked up with Sweden.
"He's going to be out for a period of time – we probably won't see him before the break for the World Cup."
Meanwhile, Howe has also admitted that he is having to be patient regarding the recovery of Allan Saint-Maximin from a hamstring injury.
Since sustaining the initial issue against Wolverhampton Wanderers at the end of August, the French winger has featured for just 12 minutes, that outing coming against Brentford last weekend.
Howe added: "Maxi has a very slight irritation of his hamstring. On its own, that would be very small and would probably just be a few days out.
"But the problem we have is that because it's the third time he's done it now, we're going to have to be very careful with his return to play. That's a blow."
Following Sunday's goalless draw at Manchester United, Newcastle have six more games to play before the World Cup, starting with Everton on Wednesday evening. body check tags ::
