Newcastle United can start thinking about next season in the Premier League after they finished 12th in 2020-21.
But in the world’s most competitive league, you must aim to grow year on year or suffer the inevitable consequence of dropping out.
And bringing in more players means pushing some out: and so, in an attempt to throw all sentimentality out of the window, let’s have look at some of the players Newcastle should keep this season, and who they should sell.
Miguel Almirón
The pressing Paraguayan will be instrumental in ensuring Newcastle keep up a certain tempo throughout their games next season. Stay.
Fabian Schar
We knew he was a ball-carrying centre-back, but who knew he was so good at penalties as well? An obvious choice to stay, even if his fabulous talent is somewhat sporadically laid out over the season.
Freddie Woodman
Would do well as a back-up goalkeeper to feature in cup matches. At 24 years old, he has plenty of potential. Woodman should stay.
Florian Lejeune
Having enjoyed a fruitful loan spell in LaLiga, Lejeune would be a welcome addition to the Newcastle backline. After a long-time injury, Steve Bruce was too hasty in letting him leave, if only for a loan period.
Callum Wilson
Pretty easy one here – Wilson should stay, but Newcastle must note the two medium-term injuries he picked up during the campaign and look for a new striker for next season.
Martin Dúbravka
He should stay – as one of Newcastle’s finest players, the shot-stopper should keep his place in the starting line-up, and hopefully, this time will remain injury-free. He’s a keeper.
Andy Carroll
It wasn’t the fairy-tale finish, and even plugging in here and there, Carroll’s ability has now passed him by tremendously. Newcastle need another striker and to drop Joelinton to Carroll’s place. Offer him a coaching position perhaps? Ultimately, he should go.
Matt Ritchie
The man with the magic hat is still very much in favour by fans at Newcastle; his passion and drive is second-to-none and an imvaluable asset to the club. Long may he stay at St James’ Park.
Dwight Gayle
Newcastle have not officially announced it, but The Athletic reported in March that Gayle has signed a contract extension. If that’s the case, then the club should cash in on him this summer. Hopefully, no one will forget his service for the club during the most recent relegation season. It hasn’t quite worked out for him but he has scored some important goals and no one regrets his transfer. Sell.
Henri Saviet
Leave, leave, leave.
Jonjo Shelvey
How much are Newcastle hoping to get for Shelvey? £10million maybe. A tough one to call. Fans would say he should go, but to err on the side of caution, reckon that Shelvey should stay, but to only have less game time in favour of Longstaff next season.
Allan Saint-Maximin
The price is set at £70million, according to reports – but do Newcastle entertain such offers for a man whose finishing ability is not quite there? What could the side make of such money? Could it spell European success? ‘No’ is the correct answer to each question. Maybe if the club was under different stewardship you’d give more consideration, but at this point, during these dour days at St James’ Park, you can’t put a price on such unbridled charisma. Stay.
Isaac Hayden
Newcastle’s dogged central midfielder goes in too brash for yellow cards, but other than that criticism, he’s a solid performer and hugely important cog in Newcastle’s wheel. Would be great to see him pushing towards getting on the scoresheet a bit more because we know he’s capable of arrowing them. Stay .
Emil Krafth
He’s underperformed, to be honest, and if Sweden put on a decent showing during the Euros and he’s a standout performer, it’ll be a good time to cash in. Should probably sell.
Joelinton
At what point do you accept that the fee you paid – Newcastle’s biggest ever transfer – just didn’t work out and that you should cut your losses. But Big Joe has made an improvement from the campaign before and he offers a dominant ariel threat. With Carroll on the way out, he could plug in there, and who knows, maybe the 23-year-old can improve once again next campaign. For the sake of £7 million or so (at a push) it’s worth keeping the Brazilian.
Federico Fernandez
Again boils down to what he offers against how much Newcastle would get for him. The answer to the latter is ‘a little’ and to the former is ‘a fair bit.’ Stay.
Paul Dummett
The Welsh defender bloomed under Benitez following a tepid start to life at St James’ Park. Now he’s Mr Reliable and can fill in both the left-back and centre-back positions. Stay, if only for the fact he’s the only player who can look awkward on the ball and effective in equal measure.
Jeff Hendrick
Did not offer much at all in his first season as a Newcastle player. His two Premier League goals could mean he has some pulling power in the transfer market, though. Would a club facing a likely relegation battle next season like Burnley want his return for £5million or so? If so, Newcastle should snap their hands off.
Javier Manquillo
One of the few players to actually improve under Bruce. Manquillo is also a versatile player – balance this with what, the £4 million they might get for him? Stays, we suggest very lightheartedly.
Ryan Fraser
Suffered with injuries for a lot of last campaign – you would hope there’s more to come next season. Another roll of the dice for the Premier League-proven Scotsman.
Ciaran Clark
Now 31 years old, Clark is a veteran of the game. but his fragilities have started to show and a Championship club might want to fork out a bit on proven quality. Should leave.
Jamaal Lascelles
There was a time where Lascelles’ signature would’ve warranted up to £40million. That’s not the case anymore, but even still selling the captain would leave a huge hole in the defence and possibly rupture any solidity that’s currently there. And being the captain and all, he should stay.
Jacob Murphy
There was a time where Murphy’s number seemed up, but now we’re getting glimmers of why Rafa Benitez had him on the shortlist of players he wanted. Stays for another season at least.
Karl Darlow
Darlow, thank you for making those brilliant concurrent penalty saves against Nottingham Forest during that Championship season; thank you for coming in and making some fine stops during the last campaign, in place of Dubravka, but with Woodman back in the side, it’s probably time to cash in. Should go.
Sean Longstaff
His ability started to show in the latter half of the season. The hope is he’ll be favoured instead of Shelvey as a first-team starter next term, but you can only hope can’t you? Stays.
Matty Longstaff
Out of our hands, this one. Bruce doesn’t seem to see him of any importance and the player appears to have eyes for elsewhere. So yes, he goes – but you just know it’ll somehow come back to haunt Newcastle in a couple of years, just like Adam Armstrong, Ivan Toney, and Kevin Mbabu.
Jacque Talbot is on Twitter.
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