Newcastle United will listen to offers for four first-team players in January as their squad overhaul continues.
What’s the word?
That is according to sources close to Football Insider, who have listed the likes of club captain Jamal Lascelles, Ryan Fraser, Matt Ritchie and Jamal Lewis as players who have been deemed surplus to requirements by Eddie Howe.
As per the same source, it is said that PIF have given the green light to Newcastle’s offloading request, but only if the club receive adequate offers for that quartet.
Time to go?
Howe has not worked with a particularly big squad in Tyneside, although that approach seems to be working for him, having guided Newcastle into the Champions League qualification places as things stand.
Howe seems to like it this way and believes that the team’s current success throughout this season is down to a balancing act in which quality has been preferred to quantity.
That said, Lascelles, Ritchie and Lewis have made only seven Premier League appearances between them this season, whilst Fraser has featured eight times, starting just thrice.
Of course, you would expect Newcastle to replace a couple of those with high-quality upgrades as they look to build on their project of aiming to achieve long-term success in the Premier League.
However, letting go of senior players with leadership qualities in club captain Lascelles and Ritchie midway through the season could well be a mistake.
