Eddie Howe has been bombarded with questions about the England job ahead of Newcastle United’s game against Brighton.
The Newcastle United manager has spoken to the media to preview Saturday’s game at St James’ Park, but most of Eddie Howe‘s pre-match press conference was dominated by the FA’s decision to give the England job to Thomas Tuchel.
This comes after Eddie Howe was linked with the England job, while various pundits have raised issue with a foreign manager leading the national team. Gary Neville has suggested that the FA could have appointed Howe, admitting that the decision to go with a foreign manager is damaging for English coaches.
While there was a lot of England chat, there was plenty more to take from Eddie Howe’s pre-match press conference. Here are the five key messages.
Eddie Howe was not contacted by the FA
On the subject of England, Howe confirmed that he was not one of the 10 coaches that the FA approached about becoming England manager.
That is a major surprise, as Howe is without a doubt the best English manager around right now.
However, the Daily Mail have reported that the FA did not approach Howe because of his release clause. They would have had to pay Newcastle more than £6million, which was deemed too much.
Instead, the FA have gone with Tuchel, and Howe is hopeful that he can lead the Three Lions to glory.
“I think he’s a great appointment and I hope he leads England to many trophies,” he said.
Good and bad injury news ahead of Brighton
Howe provided an update on Newcastle’s injured players ahead of the game against Brighton, with Kieran Trippier set to miss out, as expected.
Elsewhere, Howe has said that Alexander Isak is ‘in contention’ to return on Saturday, which is a major boost.
However, Callum Wilson’s situation is less straightforward. While the 32-year-old has trained, Howe has stated that Newcastle are assessing their number nine on a day-by-day basis. In short, they do not want him to come back too early and risk another injury.
Also on the injury front, Howe confirmed that Sven Botman could be back in time for Christmas.
The latest on Lewis Miley’s comeback
Newcastle welcomed Lewis Miley back to training this week. The 18-year-old has been absent for seven months, with Miley suffering a back injury then a broken metatarsal.
It is great to see him back, but there might not be a rush to put him back on the pitch.
Howe said: “Lewis has been back training during the break. He has looked really good – he looks like he has not been away. It has been great to see. We will re-introduce him at the right time. He will have some competition, he is coming back into a great environment.”
Eddie Howe’s honest verdict on Yankuba Minteh
The big narrative going into Newcastle’s game against Brighton is the return of Yankuba Minteh.
The 20-year-old was sold by Newcastle in the summer, with the Magpies scrambling to comply with profit and sustainability rules. His departure was enforced, but still very frustrating – especially when Newcastle are crying out for a right winger like him.
However, Howe is still adamant that selling Minteh to Brighton for £33million was the right thing to do.
“In my opinion, it was absolutely the right thing to do,” he said.
“But it still hurts to have done it. We had no other option. No matter what the narrative is in the future, regardless of how Elliot [Anderson] does or Yankuba does, it’s still the right thing to do for the benefit of Newcastle.
“We couldn’t breach PSR. We couldn’t face a points deduction. The only two deals on the table at the time were the two deals that we did.
“We didn’t want to sell Yankuba at all. We believed in his potential and everything about his profile fitted what we needed. But we had to make a decision based on finances.”
It will be interesting to see how he gets on at St James’ Park on Saturday, with Lewis Hall likely to be tasked with stopping Minteh.
Dan Burn contract update
Howe’s press conference ended with an exciting update on Dan Burn, who is facing his former club this weekend.
The Newcastle United manager had fielded questions on the defender’s contract situation, as it had been led to believe that his deal was expiring in the summer of 2025.
However, the Newcastle press officer ended the press-conference by telling the media that is not the case.
“Just a point of clarity on a question earlier, Dan Burn is under contract next season,” he said.
That is excellent news, as Burn remains a key player on Tyneside. He has enjoyed a very strong start to the season, and is part of the predicted Newcastle XI to face Brighton on Saturday.
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