NEWCASTLE United’s players will know their futures at the club in the coming days with Eddie Howe set to hold discussions mapping out a timetable for discussions with certain players.
The Magpies Premier League campaign comes to an end on Sunday when they travel to take on relegation threatened Burnley at Turf Moor. They harbour hopes of finishing in the top half of the table having spent most of the season fighting against relegation.
Several players face uncertain futures with Sean Longstaff out in the summer while fringe players Dwight Gayle, Ciaran Clark and Jamaal Lewis are likely to be shown the door.
Howe has mapped out a timetable of when he will speak to his players as he told the media: “I will be speaking with players in the next few days, linking it around the game.
“I won’t be speaking to any of the players playing or involved in the match before the game, I’ll be speaking to them afterwards. But players who are injured and not involved in the game I’ll be speaking to them earlier.”
When it comes to summer recruitment, Newcastle are having to take a cautious approach against breaking any financial fair play rules. It’s led to some speculation regarding whether players sales may be sanctioned to offset bringing players to the club.
Regardless, Howe knows the types of characters he wants playing for the black and white stripes. "It's vitally important that anyone we recruit understands what it means to play for the badge, for the club, and carries that burden that it brings but in a positive way. All the players we brought in January have done that” he added.
“You see the passion in Bruno (Guimaraes) on Monday after the game. You see his feelings of positivity when winning the game. He knows, he has that feeling inside of him that you need to play for Newcastle.
“We will take that very seriously and anyone we bring in needs to understand when they enter the building here what it means to everybody."
Newcastle have shown they are not afraid to spend the cash if it’s there. The club were the biggest spends in Europe during the January transfer window acquiring Kieran Tripper, Dan Burn, Chris Wood and Bruno Guimaraes.
Matt Targett joined on a loan deal from Aston Villa but has declared his desire to make a permanent switch to Tyneside in the summer.
While it was a bold window for the club, Howe admits it was a necessary course of action given the circumstances surrounding their Premier League safety.
He continued: “January was very difficult for a whole host of reasons. It was very intense and I think linked to our league position to be honest. It created a necessity to act and to do things and, thankfully, it was very successful but this is a different window. Now we start again, we start afresh, but we have work to do so it will be interesting to see how it pans out."
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