Eddie Howe may look to keep Jamaal Lascelles this summer despite rarely playing this season

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Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe could look to keep Jamaal Lascelles next season as the Magpies seem very likely to be playing in Europe.

Despite remaining the club captain, Jamaal Lascelles‘ playing time has been drastically reduced this season with the centre-back pairing of Fabian Schar and Sven Botman being too good to drop.

The fact that he has featured in just 8% of Newcastle‘s available Premier League minutes this season has led to suggestions that he’s surplus to requirements at St James’ Park and could be expected to leave in the summer. However, The Chronicle reports that Eddie Howe may have other ideas.

Howe has praised Lascelles often this season despite him not playing

The biggest question looming over Newcastle at the moment is which European competition will they be playing in next season? Champions League is looking very likely but Eddie Howe won’t be counting his chickens just yet. Howe probably wouldn’t even count his chickens after they’ve hatched he’s that cautious, but fans are allowed to believe.

With the increase in fixtures playing in Europe brings, Newcastle need more squad depth and with that in mind, Howe may keep Jamaal Lascelles around as well as adding depth to the squad.

Howe knows he can rely on Lascelles and has often praised his commitment and attitude in training and in the dressing room, going as far as to call him ‘superb‘ despite rarely giving him game time.

Eddie Howe could keep Lascelles to ease the burden of increased fixtures

In fact, a few players on the periphery could find themselves still at the club next season as a result of this approach. ‘Evolution not revolution‘ was the phrase that was bandied around when the takeover went through and it seems that there’s still an expectation that will be the case in the summer.

That doesn’t mean that Newcastle won’t spend in the summer, it’s well established now that they will be looking to add quality and depth when the window opens, but it doesn’t necessarily mean one-in-one-out.

There will, of course, be casualties of the summer shake-up as Howe will need to free up squad space and reduce the wage bill if they are to bring in players with more demanding contracts. However it’s looking like Jamaal Lascelles, despite being linked with a move away for months now, may not be one of those casualties.