Matt Targett spent January knowing that his time at Newcastle United could easily be over as the club considered a host of winter sales to satisfy the PSR rule book.
The Eastleigh-born 29-year-old has suffered badly with injuries and downright bad luck in the last three seasons with heel issues, hamstring trouble and Achilles agony costing him dearly. When Amanda Staveley signed the cheque to make his loan move from Aston Villa a permanent deal in 2022, the left-sided star was one of the key men of Eddie Howe’s new look Magpies.
Targett had just played a major role in helping Newcastle stay up and during the club’s pre-season tour of Austria, former Villa and Southampton man spoke openly about getting into the England squad. However, a heel injury early in the 2022/23 campaign meant those hopes hit the buffers as Dan Burn took his place and kept it.
Last season was an even bigger nightmare for Targett as a hamstring injury suffered before he’d kicked a ball in a Carabao Cup win at Man United curtailed his campaign before it had barely begun. And this season, Targett fell behind Burn and Lewis Hall in the battle for a place.
With 46 appearances to his name at Newcastle, Targett was then a player who was arguably on the transfer list in January – with Leeds United linked with a bid – and on his way to the exit door. But with Hall’s injury and Newcastle looking vulnerable with knocks to Kieran Trippier and Tino Livramento, Targett is on the brink of a recall.
Howe told Chronicle Live: “Matt is a great professional and a really great team-mate. He is very popular in the dressing and very popular on the training ground. He does his job diligently. He has really looked after himself this season. He has had various injury problems over the last three years.
“That would be the biggest reason why he’s not played, then he has come back to fitness and invariably when he has come back he’s done well. He’s got settled but Lewis Hall’s form this year has been really strong. But this does present a potential opportunity for Matt.”
A place in the team against West Ham or in the Carabao Cup final against Liverpool would be a dream for Targett. Given the left-back tasted defeat for Aston Villa to Man City in 2020 as one of the main men for Dean Smith’s side, he would be doubly motivated this time around.
Howe said: “He is a player that will never let us down, he has a lovely left foot, a really good technical player. So potentially opportunities for him on the horizon.”
If ever a player was due a change of luck, it’s got to be the 29-year-old.
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