Newcastle United head coach Matthias Jaissle is hopeful Magpies duo Fabian Schar and Lewis Miley will be fit to feature in this weekend's VisitMalta Weekender at St James' Park.
Schar and Miley injury updates
Schar has been out of action since tweaking his groin in Newcastle's 4-1 defeat to Bristol City a fortnight ago, being replaced after 19 minutes in what proved to be Eddie Howe's final game in charge of the Magpies.
Meanwhile, Miley has not featured since breaking his leg in a freak training incident back in May but both players were part of United's warm weather training camp in La Manga and were working their way back to fitness on individual fitness plans.
Jaissle's positive update
It is thought Jaissle is a big fan of the 20-year-old, who insiders expect to have a big season on Tyneside in the wake of the departures of Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali. Schar will add some much needed experience to a young group and his return to the squad will be timely with next weekend's Premier League opener against Liverpool looming large.
When asked how far away the pair were from a return to action, Jaissle gave a positive update on their progress.
"He [Schar] is on the way back," Jaissle told Chronicle Live. "Hopefully in the next days he will be included in the team training and then we will need to see whether he is ready already for some minutes at the weekend.
"A bit the same as with Fabian, we are hoping in the next days he [Miley] will be integrated with the team sessions and hopefully he will get some minutes then."
Weekender fixtures
Newcastle welcome German giants Bayer Leverkusen to St James' Park on Saturday before closing their campaign with the visit of French side Strasbourg on Sunday. Jaissle is expected to split his squad across both games with a number of youngsters set for a call-up to beef up the two starting XIs.
