NEWCASTLE UNITED have confirmed the departure of Massadio Haidara and Jesus Gamez once their contracts officially expire at the end of this month.

As expected, the duo were both excluded from the list of retained players that was published yesterday.

Haidara made 54 Newcastle appearances after joining from French club Nancy in 2013, with his final outing coming as a substitute in the final game of last season. Gamez made ten senior appearances for the Magpies after moving from Spanish side Atletico Madrid in 2016.

Curtis Good is also leaving Tyneside after a six-year stay, with the Australian defender’s only senior outings having come in the cups. However, Newcastle officials have offered new deals to youngsters Luke Charman and Callum Roberts.

Nineteen players are leaving the club at Under-23 level, with the list of those departing including Yasin Ben El-Mhanni, Alex Gilliead, Tom Heardman, Macauley Gillesphey and Stuart Findlay, who were all regulars at academy level.

Scholars Thomas Allan, Lewis Cass, Matthew Longstaff, Oliver Walters, Kelland Watts and Adam Wilson have all been offered professional contracts.

“I would like to say thank you to the players who are leaving us this summer for their hard work and commitment while with the club,” said Rafael Benitez. “Letting players go is always a difficult decision and I wish each of them only the best for their football careers.”

Newcastle’s transfer dealings are still to get going this summer, although Benitez continues to be linked with a number of targets.

The Magpies have a long-standing interest in Bas Dost, and this could finally be the summer when there is a realistic chance of them signing the Dutch striker.

Since moving to Sporting Lisbon in a €12m move in 2016, things haven’t really gone to plan for Dost, who has also played for Heerenveen and Wolfsburg.

Things came to a head last month when the striker was one of a number of Sporting players who were injured following an attack by around 50 of the Portuguese club’s ‘Ultras’, who were unhappy at their side’s failure to qualify for the Champions League.

The incident has sent Sporting spiralling into turmoil, and there is set to be a clearing of the decks this summer, with Dost one of the players expected to leave.

The Portuguese media have even suggested he could be granted a free transfer, something that would be of obvious appeal to Newcastle given their long-standing interest in securing his services.

Benitez has instructed his scouting team to monitor a range of potential targets, and is paying increased attention to Everton winger Yannick Bolasie.

Bolasie is another player Newcastle have tracked extensively in the past, and with hopes of a deal for Chelsea winger Kenedy fading, the DR Congo international could be a viable alternative.

Bolasie joined Everton in a £25m deal two years ago, but with Marco Silva set to sell a number of players in order to fund a recruitment drive of his own, the 29-year-old could be one of the players that find themselves leaving Goodison Park.