Newcastle United have a lot of midfielders on the books with Bruno Guimaraes, Isaac Hayden, Joe Willock, Sean Longstaff and Jonjo Shelvey at their disposal, but Eddie Howe could be short in the engine room this summer.
Hayden has an uncertain future after being left out of the Premier League squad due to injury and Longstaff isn’t signing a new deal until he receives assurances about his role next season, so Howe could bring in one or two new faces when the transfer window opens.
One player who might be on their radar is Liverpool’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. The 28-year-old has made 29 appearances in all competitions this season, but he’s only started in 58% of those games and has amassed less than 800 minutes in the Premier League.
Oxlade-Chamberlain is out of contract in 2023 and isn’t close to putting pen to paper on an extension, so Liverpool might have to move him on this summer rather than risk losing the English international on a free transfer next year. Alan Hutton believes he’d be a good signing for Newcastle.
He told Football Insider: “It’s difficult because you want to stay at a club like Liverpool. You’re challenging for all these trophies, but you want to also play your part. If that’s not happening, it’s possibly time to move elsewhere.
“Newcastle are building for the future. Why would you not want to be part of that? He could be an integral cog for (them) moving forward. He’s still got a lot to give, plenty of time. The only question mark is the injuries.
“That can happen with all the stop-start, it’s difficult to get a run going. I think (Newcastle) would jump at the chance of bringing someone of his quality through the door.”
Oxlade-Chamberlain has made 133 appearances in all competitions for Liverpool since joining from Arsenal in 2017, scoring 17 goals with 15 assists. He currently finds himself behind Thiago, Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and Naby Keita in the pecking order, so the writing may be on the wall. Whether Newcastle consider him worth signing remains to be seen, however.
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