Newcastle United will have the exit door propped open this summer and one man likely to walk on through is Javier Manquillo who will not be short of offers.
The Spanish right-back has been at St James’ Park since 2017 and while he never really set the world alight, he’s been a dependable squad member during that time. On occasion he’s actually looked really good, but the number of replica Newcastle shirts with Manquillo printed on the back are likely to be very few outside of his immediate family.
Manquillo has made just six appearances for Newcastle this season amassing just 189 minutes of football in all competitions. It seems then that his time at Newcastle is likely up and Spanish publication, AS have suggested that the 29-year-old would not be short of offers.
Manquillo will have plenty of options should he leave Newcastle
Once hailed as ‘terrific‘ by former gaffer Steve Bruce, Manquillo is said to have admirers in England, Germany, Spain and France, but they don’t mention any clubs by name. They do, however, say that due to only having one year remaining on his contract, his exit is unlikely to bring in a huge fee for Newcastle.
That won’t be so much of an issue given that he’s spent six years at the club. Signed by Rafa Benitez for an undisclosed fee, the former Atletico Madrid man had two previous loan spells in England at Liverpool and Sunderland before joining the Magpies permanently.
Manquillo is likely to be one of several players on their way out of St James’ Park this summer as the big rebuild begins with the AS report naming several Newcastle players they expect to leave: “However, the club hopes to close the exit of several players before launching into the market. Loris Karius, Karl Darlow, Jamaal Lascelles, Paul Dummett, Emil Krafth, Matty Longstaff and Matt Ritchie.”
Newcastle could be quite ruthless with who they allow to leave
That crop of players have barely featured for Newcastle this season, if at all, and the writing has been on the wall for them for a while and as good as servants as some of them have been, there’s no room for sentimentality.
For me the biggest disappointment in that group would be losing Matt Ritchie, purely because I wanted to see him stay at the club as a coach, but he clearly feels he has more to give as a player and more power to him.
I’m also happy to see that Manquillo will have plenty of options as, while never a Newcastle megastar, I did grow to like him a lot, but Newcastle need better quality in that area of the pitch with Kieran Trippier setting a high bar for any back-up to live up to. A bar that Manquillo and Krafth probably can’t reach.