Newcastle United are approaching a critical summer with questions growing around absolutely every living soul within the club.
The roster will need to be reshaped, there will be outgoing and incoming transfers, and most pressingly, the Magpies will likely need to find a new manager to carry them forward into a new era for Newcastle.
With European qualification still uncertain and highly unlikely given the recent run of results and the impossibility of this team retaining any sort of lead, it’s fair
to assume that at least one or two big-name players will leave the organization throughout the summer.
All three of Sandro Tonali, Tino Livramento and Anthony Gordon sold at once!? Welp, it looks like it might be about to happen.
“While Newcastle want to hold on to as many of their big players as possible, the club is not afraid of selling stars. They will trade outwards and believe that is critical if they are to progress and continue competing in the transfer market,” Chris Waugh reported in a Q&A for The Athletic. “Should Newcastle fail to qualify for Europe, Hopkinson suggested that would further increase the need to sell well this summer, largely to finance the investment required to bolster an ageing and unbalanced squad. Without having direct access to the figures, it is impossible to say how many would need to be sold, but it seems likely at least one of Sandro Tonali, Anthony Gordon or Tino Livramento would go.
“Without meaning to scaremonger, it is not entirely beyond the realms of possibility that all three depart, but Newcastle will try to avoid that scenario if possible.”
Newcastle are expected to weigh multiple factors, including transfer fees and wage demands, as they determine how best to manage potential interest in their key players this summer.
From having the stars to making them available to actually sell them, there is a rather huge gap. Newcastle has the first step completed, is seemingly already working on placing sky-high price tags on their star players, and it’s yet to be seen if some/all of those demands are met by clubs across the continent.
Tonali (and mostly his agent) looks locked into forcing a move to join a higher power—likely Arsenal or Man Utd. Gordon has been linked to a move to his former academy club Liverpool for ages. Livramento sounds like Pep Guardiola’s dream acquisition.
Judging by the stature and the coffers of the aforementioned clubs, and NUFC’s glaring need for a squad reset, never say never.
