Newcastle United’s Premier League status is still a couple of points away from being secured for this season. The current squad have performed admirably and have put in some sterling displays, not to mention a string of under par ones as well. With this in mind, there is certainly room for improvement within the current squad. This could spell the end of the road for some of the current playing staff as Alan Pardew will potentially have £35 million at his disposal. Would clearing out a selection of squad players be the smartest move for the Toon though?
Assuming Newcastle are a Premier League club again next season, they will want to be ready to field their strongest possible side on day one of the new season. As we all know though, this isn’t always possible as injuries are frequent within any squad, so having strength in depth is vital. Newcastle’s current squad isn’t particularly large and this is verified by the substitutes bench yesterday against Aston Villa. James Tavernier, Ryan Donaldson, Shane Ferguson and Michael Richardson are all reserve players who have been making the bench in recent weeks. However, this is mainly as a consequence of injuries and suspensions to regular first team players. While blooding these young players is a positive move for the future, I’m sure Alan Pardew would prefer to be adding them to the bench out of choice as opposed to necessity.
[ad_pod id=’unruly’ align=’right’]
So would it be in Newcastle’s best interests to keep the likes of Alan Smith, Wayne Routledge and Danny Simpson? These are just three players who have all been linked with moves away over the summer and while evidently new faces will be coming in, the squad would stand in far better stead with these players and new ones, wouldn’t it? The counter side to this is that Newcastle’s wage bill would be increasing with new arrivals and surely the books would need to be balanced by shipping out some of the deadwood. If we take Xisco for example, he is rumoured to be making a gob smacking 50k a week – surely he’s a player the Magpies should be looking to offload permanently. Then there are the players who aren’t at the standard desired for Newcastle United. James Perch and Shefki Kuqi are squad players who would be more suited to Preston or Crystal Palace, not a club that wants to be achieving European qualification.
Whether there is enough strength in depth to be shipping out players this summer is down to the powers that be, but I would suggest Newcastle can afford to relinquish the services of a selection of the current squad. As I would hope, the players Pardew is lining up to join the Toon over the summer are capable of adding to and enhancing the quality that is already on display. What Pardew will need to do is ward off any advances on his key players, as the club wants to ensure they don’t become a feeder club for the big boys. So is there room for a summer clearout at Newcastle? In a word…yes.
[bet_365 type='odds' size='300' af_code='365_050711']
