NEWCASTLE UNITED have stepped up their attempts to trim unwanted players from their first-team squad ahead of a return to full pre-season training next week.
Newcastle’s players have begun to return to the club’s Darsley Park training complex this week, with the club’s non-internationals set to start their pre-season schedule at the start of next week before heading to Germany for a training camp. The club’s first pre-season game takes them to Hull City on July 27.
Eddie Howe will welcome new signings Lloyd Kelly, Odysseas Vlachodimos and John Ruddy to his squad next week, but would ideally like to complete some outgoing deals before his squad head off to Germany.
Ryan Fraser has agreed personal terms with newly-promoted Southampton, having spent last season on loan at St Mary’s. However, while the Saints have indicated a desire to sign the 30-year-old winger on a permanent basis, they have so far been unable to agree the terms of a deal with Newcastle officials.
Fraser still has another year of his current Newcastle contract to run, and the Magpies do want to be left in a position where they effectively have to pay up the remainder of his deal, which is reportedly worth more than £60,000-a-week.
Isaac Hayden and Jamal Lewis have also been made available for transfer, with the former still having two more years of his contract on Tyneside to run and the latter tied up until next summer.
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Hayden spent the second half of last season on loan at QPR, but while the Championship club would like to sign him permanently, they cannot afford to match his current earnings with Newcastle.
Lewis was on loan at Watford last season, but while the Northern Ireland international made 32 league starts for Hornets, they opted not to take up an option that would have enabled them to complete a permanent deal.
The hope is that the three players can be moved on early in pre-season, but if that does not prove to be the case, they are likely to be instructed to train with Newcastle Under-21s rather than as part of Howe’s first-team group.
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