Rafa Benitez has confirmed that Ghana winger Christian Atsu will play no part in the season again for Newcastle United after undergoing a knee surgery.

The 24-year-old sustained a knee injury some weeks ago but played through the pain barrier until he could not continue anymore hence had to undergo surgery.

The flying winger went under the knife in a bid to make sure that he is available for pre-season in a sign that he has a future at the St James' Park beyond his first full campaign with the Magpies.

“Atsu has had an operation on his knee to be sure that he will be fine for the next year,” said Benitez.

“It wasn’t a big issue but he had some discomfort and we needed to fix the problem now to be sure that next year he is fine. Ciaran Clark has a little problem with his knee, but we think he will be fine for next week hopefully. The others are fine,” he added.

Atsu will therefore miss Newcastle’s trip to Vicarage Road to face Watford on Saturday as well as the games against Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea.

He will also miss Ghana’s friendly against Iceland and Japan in June as the two opponents use the game to prepare for the World Cup holding in Russia.