Luke Edwards of the Daily Telegraph is reporting that Andy Carroll will not be fit to start a game for Newcastle until after Christmas.
This is because the Geordie striker is still in the rehabilitation phase for his ankle injury that nearly ended his career.
The Newcastle medical team, therefore, are not prepared to take any risks with the former Liverpool striker and have told Steve Bruce to restrict Carroll just to substitute appearances.
This will be a big blow to Steve Bruce who was probably hoping he could start both Joelinton and Carroll together at some point, but it seems that Newcastle will not be able to use their big striker until 2020.
This leaves Newcastle with just Joelinton and Yoshinori Muto as their only strikers capable of starting a game.
Both have only scored once this season and they will need more service if they are to provide Newcastle with the goals they need to avoid a relegation battle.
Carroll, of course, can still provide a threat off the bench but Bruce would much prefer to be able to start him.