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Saturday 18 July 2020 11:22, UK
Steve Bruce says he is planning talks regarding Newcastle's "ridiculous" injury situation, while Fabian Schar is set for three months on the sidelines after dislocating his shoulder.
Bruce's side have struggled with injuries throughout the season, and he is set to go into Monday's game at home to Brighton - live on Sky Sports - without five of his centre-backs.
Schar sustained his injury in Wednesday's 3-1 home defeat to Tottenham, and Bruce says Newcastle have even asked for permission to play 20-year-old Kelland Watts, who has been out on loan twice this season, in their final two matches of the campaign.
"We're without seven, possibly eight. Five of them are centre-backs, which is just ridiculous," said Bruce. "It's a big frustration of ours at the minute.
"Most people accept you're going to have one or two or three, but seven or eight is a huge number. But we have to get on with it. We knew there were going to be difficulties ahead, but not to this severity.
"We've had probably too many, so we will look and I will ask the question: 'Is there anything we can do to improve?' We've had far too many, especially when we're playing Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday - we can't seem to cope.
"Schar's away to see a specialist - we expect him to have an operation. Florian Lejeune, Isaac Hayden, Sean Longstaff, Paul Dummett, Ciaran Clark, Jamaal Lascelles, Allan Saint-Maximin are all big doubts."
When asked if he expected any of the eight players to play in either of Newcastle's final two matches of the season, Bruce replied: "I wouldn't think so."
Bruce says he is hoping the saga regarding Matty Longstaff's future will finally come to a conclusion within the next week.
The midfielder is out of contract at Newcastle at the end of the season and is yet to sign the improved deal currently on the table.
Longstaff is also currently considering an offer from Udinese, and Bruce admits he would be disappointed if the 20-year-old chose to leave St James's Park.
"Of course I would," he said. "I put him into the team and gave him his debut.
"I hope he stays - I've made that pretty obvious. The club has made him a great offer.
"I think I've made my stance pretty clear. We've done everything as a club to keep him here - it's up to Matty now to commit himself.
"We think a lot of him. His progress had been fantastic up till Christmas. Then of course it's gone far too long in negotiations, and then football shut down for three months.
"So it's now up to Matty. We can only ask the question and see. In the next week or so, we'll find out whether he's going to stay or he's going to move on."
