Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe desperate to keep key players amid FFP danger

LONDON – Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe is having to wrestle with the club’s profit and sustainability constraints, as they prepare for their FA Cup fourth-round clash at Fulham on Jan 27.

Chief executive officer Darren Eales said earlier in January the Magpies may be forced to sell some of their biggest names in order not to fall foul of the rules, and speculation regarding the futures of Kieran Trippier, Callum Wilson, Miguel Almiron and Bruno Guimaraes continues to dominate headlines.

Newcastle had announced losses of £155 million (S$264.8 million) over the past three seasons – clubs are allowed a maximum of £105 million over three years.

Ahead of the match, Howe was bombarded with questions regarding the player situation.

“A few things to say on Kieran’s situation. We’re very confident he will be part of our long-term future,” he said.

“I have to make it clear he has never asked to leave or even questioned his future here.

“His commitment to Newcastle shouldn’t be questioned. I want to keep our best players, I want to keep every player in our squad that is very thin on the ground now.”

Howe was equally adamant on Wilson, saying that “there’s no part of me that wants to lose him”. On Almiron, he added that he was “desperate” to keep the player.

He did not mention Guimaraes but it was clear that he did not want to lose any key player.

“It’s the first time since I’ve been manager of the club that we’ve been linked with players leaving and that creates an unsettling dynamic,” he said.

“A lot of those rumours have been that, they are just speculation and there is nothing behind it. I’m trying to prepare a team to win the next game and we want to keep the team intact.”

The Magpies were on four straight defeats in all competitions, before they beat Sunderland 3-0 in the FA Cup third round earlier in January without breaking too much sweat.

Howe’s men were boosted by that result, and were on the verge of a big English Premier League victory over Manchester City last weekend, before Pep Guardiola’s men scored two goals in the last 16 minutes to seal a 3-2 win.

Newcastle will hope to get back to winning ways but they have progressed beyond the fourth round only once in the last 18 years – losing to City 2-0 in the 2019-20 quarter-finals.

Their most recent league victory was a 3-0 win over Fulham on Dec 16, so they will be slight favourites.

“We are desperate to get our best form back,” added Howe.

“You will see a very energetic performance, and a very technical one because we have put a lot of work into that. We are determined to do well.”

Howe will be missing the injured Joelinton, Nick Pope, Elliot Anderson, Joe Willock, Harvey Barnes and Matt Targett, while Wilson and Jacob Murphy are not fully fit.

For Fulham, manager Marco Silva will not have Africa Cup of Nations trio Fode Ballo-Toure, Calvin Bassey and Alex Iwobi in his squad, while Adama Traore is still injured.

The Cottagers are also aiming to bounce back after exiting the League Cup semi-finals in midweek, losing 3-2 on aggregate to Premier League leaders Liverpool.

Fulham are yet to win a major trophy in their 145-year history, so they will try to go as far as they can in the FA Cup.

“Everyone is here to do the same thing and push Fulham to the limit,” said midfielder Andreas Pereira.

“The gaffer told us he was proud of us that we came so far (in the League Cup) and we were unlucky not to go all the way. We live for these kind of (Cup) games.

“We want to do it more and more and that’s why I came to this club.”