Newcastle United midfielder Jonjo Shelvey’s future at St James’ Park has been hit with some doubt following his latest injury issue.
Journalist Craig Hope has now suggested his contract clause will be hit by his recent calf injury, which means his year extension is unlikely to be activated.
While even Hope was unclear on the clause’s exact details, it does seem that Shelvey’s chances of securing an automatic extension are now in jeopardy.
It is believed the Englishman is now set to be sat on the sidelines for up to eight weeks having picked up the fresh setback, which caused him to miss the game against Leicester City on Boxing Day.
Shelvey has had an injury-ravaged campaign that has seen his game time restricted to just 34 minutes in the Premier League (via Transfermarkt).
But as his contract on Tyneside is now down to just its final months, Hope has claimed his lack of game time will mean an extension clause in his deal will not be activated.
He said: “Jonjo Shelvey’s going to be missing for the next 6-8 weeks with a calf injury.
“We thought that Jonjo Shelvey only had to play three more games to activate a one-year contract extension.
“Now, I’m led to believe that’s not the case yet. So there’s a little bit of doubt as to whether that was three starts or whether there were different sorts of conditions attached to that.
“So as it stands, you’re looking at Jonjo Shelvey being out for another couple of months and that one-year contract extension – his deal expires at the end of this year – not having yet kicked in. So that’s an interesting one to watch.”
TIF Thoughts on Hope’s comments…
Shelvey has played a big role in the Newcastle midfield over the years having racked up 202 appearances for the Magpies across all competitions (via Transfermarkt).
Do you want Shelvey to stay at NUFC?
Yes
No
Shelvey’s injury record has certainly taken a downward spiral in recent years, with frequent issues taking their toll on the midfielder who missed 11 games last season.
However, in his absence, the Toon have made huge strides to the next level as they sat second in the Premier League table after Boxing Day, which does make us question whether losing Shelvey would be considered such a loss.
But even if Newcastle are keen to keep hold of Shelvey, we cannot imagine there would be any clubs in the same position as the Toon who would be waiting in line to acquire the 30-year-old.