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Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe has decided to axe three players from his squad ahead of the upcoming season.
As reported by The Mirror, the Magpies are in dire need of trimming down their squad if they have to make more signings this summer. The report added that the trio of Ciaran Clark, Jeff Hendrick and Dwight Gayle have all been demoted from the first team.
Clark, Hendrick and Gayle have been ordered to train with the reserves as the club looks to ship them out.
The Magpies are believed to be one of the busiest clubs in the transfer market this summer ahead of their first full-season under their new owners.
However, the aforementioned report suggests that despite the backing of their mega-rich Saudi Arabian owners, Howe has a modest transfer war-chest at his disposal. It is understood that Newcastle United will need to generate extra funds from player sales if they have to comply with the Financial Fair Play rules.
The Tyneside club have a very big squad right now which they need to address and for that, they need to sell some of their fringe players. There are as many as 33 first-team players at St. James' Park right now, which is why it is quite obvious that they need to offload several players.
As claimed by The Mirror, the Tynesiders also have a very high wage-to-turnover ratio which is around 65%.
Clark has been at the Tyneside club since 2016 having played a total of 128 games for the club till date. The 32-year-old played just 14 games last season and currently finds himself down the pecking order.
Hendrick has also been a bit-part player for Newcastle since his free transfer from Burnley in 2020. The midfielder spent the second half of last season on loan at Championship side Queens Park Rangers.
Meanwhile, Gayle, who has scored only 11 goals over the past four seasons, played just 106 minutes of first-team football last season. He needs a move to get regular playing time.
Newcastle United should be looking to offload more players
Apart from the three, there are several other fringe players at Newcastle United right now and the club needs to find a solution soon.
For instance, the Magpies have as many as six center-backs, four left-backs and three right-backs.
Almost every position is stacked in terms of numbers and not many of them are sellable assets. We will have to see how Eddie Howe deals with the situation to make room for more signings to bolster his squad.
