Eddie Howe said Anthony Gordon may already have played his final match for Newcastle as Bayern Munich negotiate to sign the England winger and Newcastle prepare to leave him on the bench against West Ham on Sunday evening.
Howe said the 24-year-old had only recently returned from a minor hip injury, but added that Newcastle are now looking ahead. Gordon last played in mid-April, then missed two games before being an unused substitute in the home win against Brighton and the draw at Nottingham Forest. That sequence has left him likely to start on the bench again as Newcastle host West Ham, even though Howe said he would play him if it was the right thing to do.
The Newcastle manager did not deny that talks are taking place around Gordon’s future, but made clear they are not his conversations. “There are discussions that potentially might be happening but not with me,” Howe said. He also suggested the decision to hold Gordon back was shaped by what comes next as much as what happens now. “When you get to this stage of the season, part of what we will be doing is looking to next year, naturally,” he said. “The team has played well in his absence and it [leaving him on the bench was] was with a partial view to the future, yes.”
Bayern Munich are understood to be willing to agree personal terms with Gordon, but they are also thought to be reluctant to meet Newcastle’s £75m valuation. Their attempts to force the price down by about £10m have added to the sense that the winger’s future is already being negotiated away from Tyneside. Howe’s comments point to that uncertainty shaping selection now, not just transfer talk later. Newcastle are going into a summer where there are a lot of unknowns and there will be a lot of change for them, with seven or eight players expected to depart and the exits of Kieran Trippier and Emil Krafth already confirmed.
Fabian Schär is another player whose future is unsettled. The 34-year-old’s contract ends next month, but Newcastle appear ready to discuss a one-year extension with the defender next week. Howe struck a hopeful note on Schär while making clear that nothing is settled yet. “Fabian still has a lot to offer on the pitch,” he said. “We will have discussions with him and his representatives in the next week.” He added: “It’s not necessarily about farewell for Fabian.”
For Gordon, though, the signs are harder to read. He has already been out of the side for weeks, Bayern are pressing to lower the price, and Howe has hinted that Newcastle’s selection choices are now being made with a future that could look very different from the present. That is why Sunday evening may matter less as a routine Premier League fixture than as a possible end point.
Related coverage can be found in Newcastle Score Today: Howe Hints Anthony Gordon May Have Played Final Game and Liverpool F.c watch: Howe hints Anthony Gordon may have played final Newcastle match.
