Newcastle hold private talks with Toon stars ahead of huge summer - The Telegraph

According to The Telegraph's Luke Edwards, Newcastle United are growing increasingly confident that star duo Bruno Guimaraes and Alexander Isak will be staying at the club this summer.

In his latest piece, the North-East reporter reveals that our owners have adopted a 'defiant' stance over the pair, with Toon officials also holding private conversations with both that have offered the club encouragement.

Our Saudi-backed owners do not want rival clubs to cherry-pick our best players during a key stage of our development, although it's accepted that this won't stop the likes of Arsenal, Man City, PSG and others upping their interest over the summer.

Eddie Howe said he saw both being at the club next season during this morning's press conference, insisting that the our ambitious owners have no intention of losing our best players ahead of an important summer and 2024/25 campaign.

Speaking about their future during Friday's press conference, Howe's message was clear. “I do believe they [Bruno and Isak] will be here next season." He said. "I’m planning for them to be here. Yeah, all my planning is with them in the squad. I don’t know why that [clubs thinking they can buy them] is so relevant or in the news as much as it is.

“I think for us we’re looking to build a squad and a really successful team and to do that, we don’t want to sell our best players. That is hugely important for us, it will knock us back some considerable distance because we would have to start again.

“There is no weakness in the club to say we are going to sell anyone. But, of course, financial fair play is there and we’ll have to comply like everyone else. That’s why I’ve said this summer is going to be a very difficult thing to predict. But there is no desire from anyone at the football club to sell our best players.”

Asked about Isak's response to rumoured interest, Howe then added: "Judging by Alex’s performances and training and just how he is day to day, I don’t see him thinking about those things or dealing with those rumours.

“It’s business as usual. When you’re in the position that he’s in and he’s scoring goals, you get used to people talking about you and possibly creating rumours that are true, aren’t true, I’ve got no idea.

“For us, we’re just focusing on our future with Alex, we’re focusing on trying to build our team with him in it. He’s going to be an integral part of our future.

“We signed him knowing that he was young and we wanted to develop his talents and give him an opportunity to showcase what he could do and, for me, that was a long-term journey, hopefully, and I’ve just seen him flourish this year.

“I think he’s enjoyed the environment, he’s enjoyed the team that he’s played in and I hope he does that for many years to come.”