Florian Lejeune came through his first 45 minutes after six months out with a knee injury for Newcastle’s Under-23s on Monday. The defender started the Magpies youngsters’ 2-2 Premier League 2 clash with Middlesbrough and played the whole first half without any problems as he took another big step on his road to recovery.
The Frenchman has not played competitively since suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury in April against Crystal Palace.
He has now given first-team boss Steve Bruce a boost by featuring in an Under-23s clash in which Oisn McEntee and Jack Young were on target in an entertaining draw at Whitley Park.
Under-23s head coach Neil Redfearn said the centre-back did well on his return and his presence in the side was a welcome addition. “I thought he was good, Flo,” Redfearn told the Newcastle website. “He came in there and showed real class at times. He’s obviously an outstanding player and I thought he defended well. class=”markup sc-cqPOvA hfRlWL”> “None of the goals were down to him. I thought he did really well considering he’d been out that length of time and this was his first 45 minutes. It was a really good performance.”
Lejeune, who has made 37 appearances for the Magpies since his arrival in summer 2017, will now step up his recovery in training and will likely get more minutes for the Under-23s in the next fortnight before being considered by Bruce for a senior recall.
The 28-year-old will likely target a first-team return after the next international break in mid-November when Newcastle go to Aston Villa on November 25, provided he progresses as expected in training between now and then.
When he is fully fit, the former Manchester City, Eibar and Girona defender will be expected to push Ciaran Clark, Jamaal Lascelles, Federico Fernandez and Fabien Schar for a regular starting role.
COMMENTS