Newcastle 'put five stars up for sale' as Guimaraes, Isak and Gordon transfer calls made

Newcastle have reportedly made five members of Eddie Howe's squad available for transfer this summer as the Magpies aim to reduce the average age of their squad in a drastic overhaul.

The club have openly admitted that their ambitions have been curbed significantly by the Premier League's profit and sustainability rules, with Howe ruing the sales of talented youngsters Elliott Anderson and Yankuba Minteh.

The Athletic claim that though there is no longer a pressing need to sell players in order to comply with the league's financial regulations, a host of big-name stars could still depart before the window closes.

Miguel Almiron could leave if another right-winger is brought in, amid interest from Saudi Arabia. While deals are also being explored for Kieran Trippier, Callum Wilson, Martin Dubravka and Emil Kraft with the quintet all in the final year of their contracts.

There is no desire to sell any of Bruno Guimaraes, Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon despite interest from Champions League clubs, with Newcastle keen to keep hold of their big-name stars.

The club hope to offload Jamal Lewis, Isaac Hayden and Ryan Fraser, with the latter in talks with Southampton after a successful loan spell that helped the Saints achieve promotion at the first time of asking, though the trio had already expected to leave.

There had been initial fears that Gordon's head was swayed amid rumours of a move to boyhood club Liverpool, but Howe revealed that he is ready to welcome the winger back to Newcastle once he returns from an extended break, having been part of England's Euro 2024 squad.

“I’d welcome Anthony back with three arms if I had them,” Howe said. “He’s an integral part of what we’re doing.”

Newcastle had scrambled to raise funds before June 30 to avoid a potential points deduction for failing to comply with the Premier League's financial rules, with a Gordon exit considered before cash was raised via Anderson and Minteh.

“We’ve had no conversations over the summer where it has been fractious or negative. He’s always been the Anthony Gordon who has given absolutely everything to Newcastle and I want to make that clear to all our supporters.

“It was a very difficult last couple of weeks of June. There was a lot of uncertainty and we didn’t know what was going to happen. The rules forced us to do things we didn’t want to do. I want to make that clear we didn’t want to sell any of the players we sold. Absolutely not. Why would we want to sell any of our promising young players? Elliot’s someone we’ve invested a lot of time in and it defied the inner feeling we all had associated with the club, it felt wrong.

“In the end it’s been as good as we could have hoped for in terms of us not being hit with a points deduction which was of, course, of paramount importance. But we need to make sure we’re not in that position again.”