The Newcastle winger Harvey Barnes could be facing months on the sidelines as he awaits a specialist’s verdict on the foot injury he sustained at Sheffield United. The 25-year-old limped out of the 8-0 Premier League victory at Bramall Lane on Sunday after just 12 minutes and the head coach, Eddie Howe, fears he could miss a significant proportion of the campaign with surgery a possibility. Asked if Barnes could be out for some time, Howe said: “Yes, we’re fearing it’s going to be. It’s difficult. I don’t want to put a time on it until we get confirmation from the specialist, but I think it will be months rather than weeks.” The England international, who joined Newcastle in a £38m summer switch from Leicester, sustained his injury as he pushed off to run and has since undergone a scan. Howe said: “It’s an injury to a part of the foot just below the toe. I think it’s quite a substantial injury. We’ve had it scanned, we’re waiting now for a specialist’s opinion on what to do next, whether there’s surgery involved or not. “I don’t think it was a tackle, I think it was just pushing off to run, a very unusual injury. I won’t go too technical because I’m not medically qualified to do so, but yes, very unusual.” Howe added of the player who was making only his second start for his new club: “He was down after the game because he knew it wasn’t a normal injury where you feel a muscle and think that might be one or two weeks. “This was a slightly more complex issue, and I think he probably feared the worst because there was no one around him and he knew it wasn’t quite right. “There’s no doubt he’ll be disappointed because he was very keen to show his value and worth and Sunday was an opportunity to do that. But whatever the injury is, we’ll support him and we know he’s a top-quality player and he still has a massive part to play.” The disappointing news on Barnes’s injury came as Newcastle turned their attention to the task of finding a way past Manchester City in the Carabao Cup third round on Wednesday.