£12m ‘inspiration’ is now likely to leave Newcastle United very soon

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Two of Newcastle United’s longest serving players could be on their way out of St James’ Park very soon.

There has been so much change at Newcastle United since PIF bought the club, with mega money spent on incredible players. Alexander Isak is the club’s most expensive signing ever at £63million, while the Magpies also splashed out on Italy international Sandro Tonali.

Players like that sum up how much has changed at Newcastle United. The club is going in a different direction, with proper investment and ambition hopefully leading towards trophies and glory.

Newcastle United is almost unrecognisable to what it was a few years ago, although some things have not changed. As it stands, three players who were part of the Magpies’ Championship winning squad in 2017 are still at St James’ Park.

However, that number is about to be reduced to one.

Bad news for Matt Ritchie and Paul Dummett

That is because Matt Ritchie and Paul Dummett are due to see their Toon contracts expire this summer. They await an official decision regarding their futures, but it does not look good. They did not feature at all during the club’s trip to Australia, and now the writing appears to be on the wall.

According to iNews, Ritchie and Dummett are now unlikely to receive contract extensions due to Newcastle not qualifying for Europe.

The report adds that Eddie Howe would like to keep both players, but that no longer feels feasible after missing out on the Conference League.

No Europe will force Newcastle United to be ruthless

With no European football, Newcastle United can’t really justify keeping Ritchie and Dummett. Had we mate it into Europe, keeping the latter certainly would have made sense given the fact he is a homegrown player.

But Ritchie and Dummett are not going to required next season. Even during the darkest days of the injury crisis, Dummett did not play much during the 2023/24 campaign. In total, he made eight appearances.

Ritchie played a lot more, with the 34-year-old making 17 appearances. He even got himself a goal, with the £12million man grabbing a vital equaliser for the Magpies against his former club Bournemouth.

He was described as an ‘inspiration’ after that game, with everyone at Newcastle appreciating the role that Ritchie has behind the scenes. The same goes for Dummett, but now is the time to move on.

While they are good members of the squad, Newcastle need to put sentiment to one side. The squad needs to grow and develop, which means saying goodbye to long-serving players.

Their exits will mean that Jamaal Lascelles becomes Newcastle’s longest serving player, replacing Dummett at the top of the pile. Elsewhere, Sean Longstaff will move up to second.