Eddie Howe now unsure if ‘invaluable’ £10m player will stay at Newcastle next season

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Eddie Howe says he’s not sure if Matt Ritchie will stay at Newcastle United after he contract expires this summer.

Newcastle boss Eddie Howe has made no secret of his desire to keep Matt Ritchie around at the club for his positive influence around the dressing room.

However, the gaffer has conceded that the matter is beyond his control as Ritchie is looking to move closer to his family on the South Coast. As The Athletic reported: “The club want Ritchie to sign a new contract as free agency looms, but with his family living hundreds of miles away on England’s south coast, Howe is unsure whether the former Bournemouth wide man will take up their offer.”

Matt Ritchie has been at Newcastle since 2016

It’s a bigger will-they-won’t-they? situation than Ross and Rachel on Friends (showing my age there, aren’t I?).

Ritchie’s contract is set to expire at the end of this month which could see the curtain come down on his seven-year stint on Tyneside following his £10million move from Bournemouth in 2016. So the fact that this could be Ritchie’s last season at Newcastle has been known for a while.

Eddie Howe has flip-flopped on Ritchie’s availability since he came through the door at Newcastle. The two have a great friendship and professional understanding from their time together at Bournemouth, but Howe knows that Ritchie is likely off the level that he wants his side to be at.

Eddie Howe has called Matt Ritchie ‘invaluable’

However, Howe is also very aware of the positive influence Ritchie has on the team, calling him ‘invaluable‘ and hailed his influence on the team. This has lead to conflicting reports saying that Ritchie has been told to find a new club one week and Howe wants him to stay the next.

Given that Ritchie only made 10 appearances last season, amassing just 212 minutes, it feels likely that if Ritchie was to sign a new contract at Newcastle it would be in a very different role. Maybe kept on as a squad member but used to train with the youth players as a mentor, maybe.

Personally, I hope Eddie Howe can convince Ritchie to stay on in some type of coaching/mentor role. It would be a shame to lose that kind of influential personality.