While playing for England at Euro 2024, the winger was the target of interest from his boyhood club, Liverpool, making it a challenging summer for Gordon and Newcastle in many ways. The 23-year-old played just five minutes for the Three Lions during the summer, despite spending most of the summer away on international duty.
After that, he went back to Newcastle, where he started the first three Premier League games of the current campaign after playing just 45 minutes during the preseason.
Howe said, “By his standards, Anthony’s had a strange summer. He struggled mightily throughout the Euros, which left him lacking in game intelligence and other essentials for a prolonged period of time. “Pre-seasons typically last five to six weeks, but he comes in for us and has a two-week stint.”
Although Gordon has only scored once in his first three Premier League games for Newcastle this year, Howe was concerned about the winger’s level of performance and conditioning thus far.
“It’s clear Anthony is slightly off on his normal fitness levels, especially from last year where he worked tirelessly to get into the best physical shape he could be,” added the Newcastle boss. “At the moment, we’re trying to get him fit in the games, we’re tying to leave him on the pitch as long as we can knowing that we can’t really train him because we’ve had a busy spell.
“He’s getting his fitness from the matches which is never ideal, but he will be fine. Touchwood as long as he stays injury-free, we’ll get him up to speed quickly.
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Gordon will be hoping to add to his four England caps when England face the Republic of Ireland and Finland
