Newcastle: Siem De Jong Not Sure When He Will Be Fit

Just days ago missing man Siem De Jong confirmed on Twitter that his rehabilitation has set January as the target for his return to the first team picture, but it looks like the number 10 is unsure of exactly how his progress is going. Thanks to his Twitter, we do know that he has a couple more weeks on crutches, which is an indication of how far he has to come. https://twitter.com/siemdejong/status/517351668913307648 He has now spoken again about his injury and recovery:

€œIt is hard to say really when I will be fit again. It is going well and I feel good but it is a nasty injury. I hate it even more as you want to help the team but you can€™t. €œBeing able to support the other Dutch guys, that€™s good.€

Clearly, the key lesson from past major injuries at the club is to avoid rushing the Dutchman back, especially with a tendon injury as he could very easily be put out for the entire season. Unfortunately, if Newcastle's form continues to be abject, then De Jong's return will be over-hyped and the temptation will obviously be to bring him back into the first team picture early. That would be a massive, massive error. Unfortunately, the signs of De Jong's overall fitness were already there - which is perhaps why Ajax were more willing to do business on the player than they were in the past - and the Dutch side's boss Frank De Boer even admitted to Dutch TV that though he would miss Daley Blind, he wouldn't really miss De Jong after his summer move:

€œSiem hardly played (last season), so you can write that off. Only Daley played almost every time, so that you miss €“ that€™s the only player (we€™ll miss).€

Though undoubtedly talented - and key to the system that Pardew obviously wants to play - De Jong has had something of a nightmare couple of years, and his 2013/14 season was ravaged with a series of problems including a thigh strain, hamstring injury and collapsed lung. That reduced his starts in the league to just 16 games, and in 8 of those games he was hauled off for concerns over fitness or form. It's hard to look past that record as an indication of why he suffered the more serious injury, but it can't have helped that he was rushed into the first team for the Palace game, despite Alan Pardew subsequently admitting that he wasn't fit enough to play.