From Flying Kiwis.
So it was The Woodsman who walked out with a strongest available Newcastle team for that Al-Hilal game... and he didn’t even last the first half. Went off injured after 39 minutes which is very much not what Eddie Howe wanted to see. Wood had looked sharp to that point.
Made a clever run down the left channel before sliding over a cross for Jacob Murphy whose shot was blocked from close range. Was lurking for a cross in his direction soon after that was cleared away by the last defender (then Joelinton headed in from the resulting corner). Then he gapped it.
Luckily it sounds like there’s nothing to worry about. It was Wood’s decision to withdraw himself, potentially a similar thing to the back niggle that affected him in that All Whites vs Australia game at Eden Park a wee while ago. Absolutely no way the same injury would have seen him replaced in a Premier League game.
Eddie Howe on Chris Wood’s injury:
“He’s got a tight back. We hope its nothing serious. He just wanted to manage himself and didn’t feel he could continue so there’s no point taking any risks with any players. Hopefully we’ve got a clean bill of health.”
That’s a relief. It’s been a convenient thing for Wood that there hasn’t really been any point this year at which both Callum Wilson and Alexander Isak have been fit and available. That’s kept him ticking over with a steady flow of bench cameos as the back-up striker. That could be about to change, at least until Wilson/Isak picks up their next inevitable injury, meaning he may have to cop a few more unused sub outings down the line. But that’s why he’ll want to make a statement during this training camp. There was apparently a closed-door game against Middlesbrough earlier in the tour and there’s also a game on Sunday NZT against Rayo Vallecano.
Tell you what won’t be happening any time soon and that’s that the bloke is going nowhere.
Newcastle have zero intention of selling Chris Wood. There was
an article in The Telegraph recently about how Newcastle are planning on offloading a few players over the next transfer window or two, both to make room for new signings but also to balance the books having spent over £200 million on transfers (including Chris Wood) since the new owners came in. Not something that any remaining financial fair play stipulations will see too kindly if that balance continues. But don’t expect Chris Wood to be amongst the offloads...
“With that in mind, there have been discussions about which players could be sold to raise funds, but the Magpies hierarchy have decided they do not want to lose striker Chris Wood as the New Zealand international has been an excellent back-up forward this season. With club record signing Alexander Isak due to be fit again for the resumption of the Premier League campaign, against Leicester City on Boxing Day, Wood will find it even harder to get into the side. But the striker has privately expressed his happiness on Tyneside and wants to stay where he is a popular member of the dressing room. Newcastle received a number of loan offers for Wood at the end of the summer window after signing Isak for £60 million from Real Sociedad but did not want to leave themselves short of cover.”