Newcastle may be prepared to sacrifice Joe Willock to help make room for a proposed summer move for Curtis Jones. The 26-year-old midfielder is entering the final year of his contract, and the club is understood to be weighing a one-in, one-out approach because of financial constraints.
That would mark a sharp turn for a player who once looked central to Newcastle’s future. Willock scored in seven consecutive Premier League games during the 2020/21 season, a burst that included a stoppage-time equaliser at Anfield, but he has managed only 11 goals across all competitions in the five years since.
Newcastle’s interest in Jones comes after Football Insider said the club should be leading the race to sign the 25-year-old, while other reporting has linked him with Inter Milan. David Lynch has said talks over a new contract for Jones have effectively ceased, adding to the sense that the Liverpool midfielder could be available if the right move emerges.
For Newcastle, the logic is straightforward even if the decision is not. Willock has featured often enough to matter, with 37 appearances this term, but he has not been a regular starter and has started only nine times in the Premier League this season. That leaves the club with a difficult call: keep a player with a familiar role in the squad, or open space for a target they believe could upgrade the midfield.
Jones has also been praised by Steven Gerrard, giving Newcastle another reason to think the opportunity is real rather than speculative. But any move would still depend on the numbers fitting, and that is where Willock becomes central to the story. A player who once drove Newcastle forward in a way few expected could now be the one moved aside to finance the next phase.
The next step is whether Newcastle turn interest into an offer for Jones and, if they do, whether Willock is made available in time to make the deal work. For now, the club’s summer plans appear to rest on one question: which midfielder they are willing to let go first.
