Newcastle United have huge belief in Sven Botman but it may well be misplaced.
While few would doubt Botman’s supreme ability when he’s at his very best, it’s difficult to ignore the sheer number of games he missed during his Newcastle United career.
Since joining the club from Lille, the Dutchman has missed 67 games through injury.
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Clearly, there’s not much the player can do about that, but it does make the idea of relying on him for any great length of time a serious concern.
With that in mind, a decision the club have come to behind the scenes is laced with risk.
Sven Botman’s important role at Newcastle United is ill-advised
Botman’s consistent injury problems this season has been at least partly covered by the excellent form of Malick Thiaw.
Thiaw has arguably been one of the signings of the season across the Premier League so far, having made a brilliant start to life at Newcastle despite the team struggling as a whole.
According to iNews, the partnership between Thiaw and Botman is seen as the “future of the club”.
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That certainly makes sense on paper but that is asking a lot of Botman, a player who has struggled to stay fit for a prolonged period of time since the 2022/23 season.
Though it would be foolish to get rid of him given his quality, actively putting faith in him to lead the team over the coming years does feel ill-advised.
Newcastle United’s record when Sven Botman and Malick Thiaw play together
The two have made 13 appearances together, for a combined total of 956 minutes.
Of the 11 games in which the pair have played more than 60 minutes together, Newcastle have won six of them while conceding ten times.
It’s easy to see why the club would want to build around two relatively young defenders, both so good on their day.
In fact, Newcastle hope to extend Botman’s contract past 2027, and that also feels wise if only to protect their asset.
However, wanting to keep him in the squad is very different to putting him front and centre of the club’s future plans.
Botman just hasn’t stayed fit enough over the course of almost three seasons now to suggest he can regularly be counted upon for the future battles to come.
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