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The future of Newcastle United is set to be shaped by a series of so-called “summit meetings” staged in the Northumberland countryside this month.
While the club’s chair, Yasir al-Rumayyan will this week scrutinise plans to either rebuild St James’ Park or move to a new-build stadium in nearby Leazes Park, a recruitment forum held last week began formulating blueprints for the summer transfer market.
After a dearth of transfer activity in the past three windows, Eddie Howe, the manager, should be able to sign a new centre-half, a right winger, a central striker and a goalkeeper during the close season while keeping star names including Sweden’s Alexander Isak.
Al-Rumayyan and colleagues from Newcastle’s majority owners, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund have flown to the north east from Riyadh in order to consider recommendations regarding the stadium’s fate made by the club’s UK-based executives, most notably the chief operating officer, Brad Miller.
It is then thought that Al-Ramayyan – who, flanked by a detail of heavy duty bodyguards watched Newcastle’s 4-3 home win over Nottingham Forest on Sunday – will return to the Middle East to consider those options. Then, following a consultation with the club’s nine-person, fan advisory board, a public announcement will be made at some point next month.
More immediately, proposals for a new training ground will also be considered during this week’s discreet gathering somewhere in Northumberland – Maften Hall Hotel has been mentioned as a likely venue but directors have previously met at Close House Hotel and Alnwick Castle.
The identities of players who could potentially inhabit the new weekday base were the subject of recruitment talks in Northumberland last week when the attentions of Newcastle’s senior boardroom management turned to the need to refresh Howe’s squad this summer.
Howe is adamant he wants to retain his four “stars” – Isak, Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimarães and Anthony Gordon. If the fulfilment of that desire could yet hinge on whether the team – currently fifth in the Premier League – qualifies for next season’s Champions League there is confidence the club are now well placed to not only keep their top players but restock Howe’s squad while remaining on the right side of profit and sustainability rules.
Newcastle’s manager has complained of an at times, slightly “stale” senior group, this season as he copes with the consequences of not having been able to sign a first-team ready player in any of the past three transfer windows.
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Now though the January exits of high earners Miguel Almirón and Lloyd Kelly for a combined sum in excess of £25m allied to the likely departures of, among others, Callum Wilson and Kieran Trippier this summer are understood to have balanced the books to the point where Howe will shortly be able to replenish his first-team pool.
Although targets have not been finalised and depend on whether this season’s Carabao Cup finalists qualify for the Champions League, a number of players are the subject of intense scouting on Newcastle’s part. Those currently under such scrutiny include the Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford, the Crystal Palace and England centre-half Marc Guéhi, the Bournemouth defenders Dean Huijsen and Illia Zabarnyi, the Lille striker Jonathan David and the PSV and Bournemouth wingers Johan Bakayoko and Antoine Semenyo, respectively.
With the much-heralded Isak contracted to Newcastle until 2028, Paul Mitchell, Newcastle’s sporting director, is confident of keeping a striker who has scored 50 goals in 76 Premier League appearances on Tyneside but is expected to attempt to inflate an already stratospheric price tag by shortly opening talks with Isak’s representatives over a contract extension.
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