Newcastle United winger Rolando Aarons is unlikely to return to action this season despite his ahead-of-schedule rehabilitation from a cruciate ligament injury, says manager Rafael Benitez.
Aarons, 21, was expected to miss the rest of the season with an anterior cruciate ligament injury in November, having played five games this term.
He is back in training and could be considered for first-team duty.
"It takes normally around six to eight months," Benitez told BBC Newcastle.
"He had the operation in another country, in Italy with the surgeon we knew, and it's been really good.