Newcastle transfer news: Eddie Howe could loan out Jamal Lewis in January

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Newcastle United are considering outgoings ahead of the January transfer window, and could reportedly loan out Jamal Lewis.

That is according to the Telegraph, who believe that the 24-year-old could be made available for a temporary exit in a bid to reduce the club’s wage bill.

Eddie Howe is keen to bring in reinforcements when the transfer window opens, but that could prove to be difficult from a financial perspective.

Newcastle are therefore looking at moving some players on next month, and one possible departure could be Lewis.

The Telegraph believe that the left-back could be offered to other clubs on loan, alongside Matt Ritchie and Paul Dummett.

Those three players have barely featured for Newcastle this season, and their future appears to lie away from St James’ Park. However, Lewis will hope that it is only a short-term exit from Tyneside.

Newcastle could loan out Jamal Lewis

For Ritchie and Dummett, they are in the latter stages of their career. Ritchie is 33, while Dummett is 31. With Newcastle getting better and better, they will both know that their time at St James’ Park could be coming to an end.

However, it should be a different story for Lewis – even if he is loaned out in January. If anything, that could be the best thing for his Toon career.

At 24-years-old, Lewis still has a lot to offer in the future. He has the potential to be a top class left-back, which is why Liverpool wanted to sign him before Newcastle got their hands on him.

Steve Bruce paid £15million for him, and it looked like a good bit of business. However, that has not proven to be the case so far.

On the whole, Lewis has struggled in black and white. He looked very raw when he first joined, and he was then dropped in favour of Ritchie.

Now Howe is the manager, and has brought in two excellent players who can play left-back – Matt Targett and Dan Burn. They are both ahead of Lewis in the pecking order right now, who has been limited to just 52 minutes of first-team football this season.

His one Premier League outing came in the 4-1 win over Fulham where he made a seven minute cameo. And Lewis’ other appearance saw him replace Targett at half time in our League Cup triumph over Tranmere Rovers.

Opportunities have been limited for Lewis, although he is highly rated by Howe. The coaching team were excited when the defender returned for pre-season in the summer, while Howe has expressed that he ‘can have an important role‘ at the club.

Whether or not that turns out to be the case remains to be seen. So many players have improved under Howe, and Lewis has the raw tools to be a success in his team.

Therefore, a loan move could be what’s best for him. He needs to be playing first-team football, but that isn’t going to happen at Newcastle this season. It might in the future, but for now a temporary departure could be best for Lewis’ career.