All eyes on Newcastle United exit door ahead of summer 'trading'
Dan Ashworth's transfer stance still stands Newcastle United plot summer squad renewal.
This isn’t the easiest month for football writers covering clubs.
It’s a different story for those reporters covering major international tournaments, but, for club-specific writers, it’s another story.
The priority is transfer stories, yet not much happens in June, especially when there’s a tournament like Euro 2024 taking place.
One or two deals which have long been completed normally get announced, but, otherwise, it’s quiet as most deals are a long, long way off being completed. Some, of course, are only done in the final hours and minutes of the window.
The job was harder in the parsimonious Mike Ashley years, when incoming transfers were often few and far between. After qualifying for the Europa League with an impressive fifth-placed finish in the 2011/12 season, the club only signed one senior player – Vurnon Anita – in the summer window.
Newcastle United, fortunately, are already up and running in this window.
The club, which already announced the departure of five senior players, last week confirmed that Lloyd Kelly will join on a free transfer when his Bournemouth contract expires at the end of the month. The 25-year-old defender had previously played for Eddie Howe at Bournemouth, and the proposed move had been widely reported late last season.
It’s a positive start to another challenging window, but there’s a lot of work still to be done. There are more positions to be filled, and Crystal Palace winger Michael Olise, 22, is a high-profile target.
A striker and goalkeeper are also on this summer’s agenda amid a wider squad renewal.
Outgoing transfers
What will be just as interesting this summer will be the outgoings, as the club must sell as well as buy as it works to domestic and European financial fair play rules.
A number of key players, notably England internationals Kieran Trippier and Callum Wilson, are out of contract next year along with captain Jamaal Lascelles.
Ironically, Dan Ashworth, the man who would ordinarily be co-ordinating much of the club’s transfer business, is on garden leave amid protracted talks with Manchester United over compensation for his own departure.
Ashworth met journalists at a St James’ Park box in late 2022 to discuss his role after joining from Brighton and Hove Albion.
After a short presentation about his role, and the structure he was putting in place at the club, Ashworth took questions.
Revealingly, Ashworth described that year’s post-takeover spend of around £200million on players as “unsustainable” for a club which, at that time, didn’t have substantial commercial revenues.
“You can’t keep doing that every year,” said Ashworth. “At some stage, you have to trade. One of the things around financial fair play is you have to trade. We have to be able to generate some money to reinvest and go again.
“I can’t lie to you and say ‘we’ll never have to sell a player, we’d always be able to hold on to our top talent’. That doesn’t happen anywhere.
“But, as a rule of thumb, I would like to think we’ll be able to hold on to our top talent in order to drive our ambitions of driving up the league and competing for cups.”
Ashworth is on the way out of the club, but his comments about the need to trade still stand, despite an uplift in commercial income.
The structure he put in place put himself in the middle of a “wheel” connecting all through different departments through the spokes.
That wheel can’t now come off in his absence.
There’s some nervousness on Tyneside about Bruno Guimaraes, playing for Brazil at Copa America this summer, given the speculation over his future, but, fortunately, the club doesn’t have to sell the midfielder, who has a £100million release clause which expires at the end of this month.
Still there will be some difficult decisions to be made on other players.
Howe won’t want to lose either Trippier or Wilson, two players he’d previously managed at Burnley and Bournemouth respectively, but there’s likely to be at least one high-profile departure this summer.
Asked about Wilson last month, Howe said: “Of course, I want him at the club next season. I’ll do everything I can to make that happen.”
United’s head coach, however, is also prepared to trade if an outgoing deal would help him improve the squad as a whole with one or more new signings.
The future of Miguel Almiron, another player who has played a lot of football under Howe, has also been the subject of more speculation following interest in him from Saudi Pro League club Al-Shabab in January.
Loan decision
Ashworth also spoke about the importance of signing “emerging talent” in that interview.
“We have to look at some emerging talent, enhancing our academy and getting the players through from a different route,” said Ashworth.
And, to that end, the club signed Yankuba Minteh, a versatile winger who can play on either flank, last year.
Minteh scored 10 goals during a successful loan at Feyenoord last season, and, amid reported interest from Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund, Newcastle must soon make a decision on his immediate future.
Another loan is an option, though there has also been speculation about a sale amid financial fair play considerations.
Speaking to Voetbal International, Minteh said: "I don't know what plans the club has for me – or what the future looks like. Maybe Newcastle wants to loan me out again.
"Ultimately, the Premier League is my goal, and Newcastle is the club that has a lot of confidence in me. One day I’ll be playing in the Premier League."
Howe, for his part, has been keeping a “very close eye” on the 19-year-old.
Minteh’s season in the Eredivisie was assessed by Kev Lawson on his Substack ahead of his return to Tyneside for the start of pre-season.
If Dortmund are interested in Minteh, Newcastle must be doing something right in their recruitment.
Now, the question is what is the right move next for him – and the club.