Newcastle United’s summer rebuild has already become one of the biggest stories of the summer, and it could end up with Eddie Howe on the outside looking in.
Howe’s tenure in Newcastle started strongly, reached glory with a Carabao Cup triumph, but ultimately came crashing down with NUFC failing to qualify for any European competition last season and missing out on even making it to the top half of the Premier League table.
Now, with Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali already sold, and Bruno set for
a likely departure if Arsenal ends up submitting the reported £80 million offer, the team might look entirely different next season.
So much so that former Manchester United chief scout Mick Brown told Football Insider’s Oliver Walton that Newcastle’s squad has so many question marks that Howe may effectively need to buy a new starting eleven.
“I wrote down the Newcastle team,” Brown said. “There wasn’t one player in the team where there weren’t any questions over them.
“Right-back…well the captain’s gone. Livramento has injury problems, but there’s talk about him moving. Dan Burn is 34 now…Botman’s been injured. Don’t know what the situation is with him.
“Harvey Barnes, the left winger, comes in the side, does well. Goes out the side and there’s talk about him and moving.
“Woltemade…they’re not happy with him. He he’s not come good. They’re a bit pointy with the lad they took from Brentford (Wissa). “We have worked our way through the team, and you can see that they’d be looking for a new team.
“Now this is a team that was built by the richest owners in the world. It comes down to these constraints again, they have done Newcastle no favours.
“It almost seems like they need an entirely new starting eleven. He’s got a job on his hands there, the manager, because he’s got to rebuild. It’s not a question of adding a bit.
“He’s another one, Joelinton…in the second half of the season, he was injured. Every position in the team is questionable. When you’ve got that, you’ve got major problems.”
Brown pointed to right-back, where Kieran Trippier has left and Tino Livramento has injury issues while being linked with a move to Man City. Staying on the defensive line, Brown also raised doubts over Sven Botman’s fitness and Dan Burn’s age.
Moving up the pitch, Harvey Barnes’ future is in doubt, and Newcastle’s attacking options all seem to be more disgruntled than settled.
While Howe fought for his life last season and ended up staying put as Newcastle’s manager for next season, it’s fair to say he’ll start the year already on the hot seat. Football Insider reported that Howe could come under serious pressure and, if Newcastle starts next season poorly, his sacking might happen if NUFC drop a bunch of points during the first month of competition.
