Amongst the many talking points for Newcastle fans over the summer has been the futures of Kieran Trippier and Callum Wilson.
With Wilson aged 32 and Trippier 33 respectively and both entering the final year of their contracts, Newcastle need to decide whether to cash in while a transfer fee can be obtained or keep them and let their contracts run down.
Rumours that they would both depart the club began back in January with stories of Trippier being close to moving to Bayern Munich, while reports at the same time linked Wilson with Atletico Madrid. Over the course of the summer, more stories have surfaced, suggesting that both will move on before the transfer window closes with moves to Saudi Arabia heavily linked.
For Wilson, these rumours have been dampened somewhat following the news that he left the club’s training camp at Adidas HQ in Germany early to have back surgery. If the centre forward has been ruled out for a period of time due to another injury it would cast serious doubts on any potential move this summer. For many, this news causes frustration. There is no denying Wilson’s ability and form. When fit he is still a deadly striker with a good goals to game ratio. The issue is that he is injury prone and as a result Newcastle have found themselves short without a true centre forward on a number of occasions due to both Wilson and Alexander Isak being injured at the same time.
For Trippier last season was difficult. His form deteriorated and he made several costly errors in games. With Tino Livramento, stepping up and proving that he is ready to handle the rigours of the Premier League perhaps it would make sense to cash in on Trippier whilst that option is available. Bayern Munich have resurfaced as a possible destination for him. However, an increasing number of reports throughout the week have been linking him to a move to Saudi Arabia. Indeed sightings of him at Newcastle airport last Friday boarding a Middle East bound flight only served to add fuel to the fire, although he has been granted additional time off after a busy summer at Euro 2024.
Other reports suggest that Eddie Howe has told Trippier that he wants him to stay this season, with The Times revealing last week that he’d met with the right-back and explained that he remains a big part of his plans at the club.
If Trippier and/or Wilson were to remain on Tyneside this season, then questions may be asked as to what part they would play.
Given his age and drop in form, it’s likely that Trippier may now not be considered to be the first choice right back, with that mantle passed to Livramento. That’s not to say that Trippier wouldn’t have his part to play. It is after all a long season and a squad game. Rotation is (ideally) required and Trippier would still get a decent amount of game time.
He would offer versatility as cover and his character experience and leadership is something that is valued highly by Eddie Howe. Trippier was Howe’s first signing and arguably his most important one to date. Arriving at St James’ Park from Atletico Madrid, he surprised many by giving up Champions League football to join a Newcastle side that was newly taken over but in a seemingly hopeless relegation battle. However the club set out their ambition at the first opportunity with Trippier’s signing in January, followed in the same window by another ambitious signing in Bruno Guimarães. However weeks after signing, he was sidelined for several months when he fractured his metatarsal in a home win over Aston Villa. Yet despite his injury his influence was key, travelling with the match day squad with his boot and crutches. Dan Burn, another signing that same window spoke of Trippier’s importance at the end of that Villa game commenting: “He’s won La Liga, he’s a regular England international and he shows it, and the lads feed off him.”
For Wilson too, the trajectory seems to have shifted with Alexander Isak now regarded as the club’s first choice centre forward. Frustratingly there have been a number of times when Isak (who has also had his injury troubles) has been unavailable and Wilson has also been sidelined. Newcastle do need cover and for that, reliability is needed in terms of both ability and fitness. Something that may help in this regard is the appointment of James Bunce as performance director. The injury list last season was brutal and whilst there was a degree of bad luck, the structure and set up of training and the medical support has been questioned. In October 2022, Newcastle appointed Danny Murphy as head physio but he then departed 15 months later in January 2024 after having been on a period of extended paternity leave. This suggests that the physio/medical department wasn’t in great shape itself last season. Now that this is Bunce’s domain hopefully improvements will come quickly, and if so perhaps this could see an improvement in Wilson’s fitness and reliability (and others too of course!)
However, this may just be wishful thinking and regardless as to whether Wilson stays or not I believer Newcastle should look to bring in another striker as cover.
Ideally, I believe the time is right to cash in on both players if possible, but if when the window closes on September 1st they are still Newcastle United players, then they both still have important contributions to make.
