Papiss Cissé has had an operation to remove a screw from his knee and will undergo rehabilitation while he serves a seven-match suspension for a retaliatory spit at Jonny Evans in Newcastle United’s 1-0 home defeat against Manchester United.

“It’s something that we were going to do anyway,” said John Carver, Newcastle’s head coach who has had to nurse his leading scorer through the past few weeks as Cissé became increasingly troubled by the screw inserted during surgery to repair a broken kneecap last April.

“It’s not a big problem with Papiss’s knee – this was maintenance that was always going to be needed. They’ve removed the screw so it’s been sorted. I really don’t think his knee is a big issue now. If anything good has come out it all [the spitting contest with Evans] it’s the fact that we can do this now.”

After watching video footage of the incident, Carver realised he could not defend the Senegal striker for his part in an altercation which also saw Evans banned for six games. “I sat down with Papiss and said ‘listen I can’t defend you on this, you’ve done wrong and have to accept whatever punishment you get’. There’s no place in the game for it. Spitting is one of the lowest forms of anything you can do on the pitch. He was provoked but retaliating in the same manner is just as bad.”

After talking to Carver, Cissé pre-empted the Football Association’s disciplinary process by issuing a public apology. “Papiss is down because of what happened,” Carver said. “But he made a good statement, a proper statement. “

The irony is that Cisse would have almost certainly been given a shorter suspension had he lashed out at Evans with his fists or his feet. “I think one or two other players might have reacted differently to the provocation and got less of a ban for their retaliation,” said Carver who must cope without his top scorer at Everton on Sunday.