By admin 
Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe has reportedly cleared the way for six of the club’s fringe stars to leave St James’ Park in January – with popular duo Emil Krafth and Javi Manquillo among those made available for transfer.
The Tynesiders have enjoyed a tremendous rise since PIF’s takeover of the North-East giants, with the appointment of Howe and his assistant Jason Tindall seen as a masterstroke. And with the club back in the Champions League, finding themselves in a group of death alongside AC Milan, PSG and Borussia Dortmund, the good times are most definitely back on Tyneside.
Aside from signing a number of quality players in that time – with the likes of Bruno Guimaraes, Anthomy Gordon, Alexander Isak, Sven Botman and Kieran Trippier all making sizeable differences – Howe has also steadily siphoned off a number of Newcastle’s old guard.
Indeed, Howe’s side allowed Matty Longstaff and Ciaran Clark to depart Tyneside as free agents over the summer. Another eight players were also allowed to depart on loan, with Ryan Fraser (Southampton), Jamal Lewis (Watford) and Isaac Hayden (Standard Liege) among the old guard allowed to leave.
In addition, Howe has let former fans’ favourite Allan Saint-Maximin depart for Saudi Arabia – something that would have been unforgiveable two years ago but entirely acceptable now given Newcastle’s wealth of quality wing options.
Chris Wood also departed for Nottingham Forest, while Karl Darlow left for Leeds, bringing in combined fees alongside Saint-Maximin of £46m.
Now the next wave of departures at St James’ Park has been pencilled in for this coming January with Howe telling up to six more players they are free to leave.
READ MORE: Sudden Newcastle twist as three Saudi clubs queue up for star who’s only just agreed new contract
Javier Manquillo and Emil Krafth among six who can leave Newcastle
And according to Football Insider, Howe has told popular defensive duo Emil Krafth and Javier Manquillo they are both free to depart if they can find themselves new suitors in the January window.
Swede Krafth has been at Newcastle since a £5m move from Amiens in summer 2019, making 64 appearances in his time at the club. However, he has only made two appearances over the whole of last season and is yet to feature this.
It’s a similar story for Manquillo, who has been on Tyneside since 2017 when Rafa Benitez brought him to the club from Atletico Madrid.
He’s played 110 times for the Magpies, though has not seen a minute’s action so far this season.
Another long-serving full-back in Paul Dummett is also being made available ahead of the winter window.
Newcastle are also willing to listen to offers for one of their back-up goalkeepers with one of Martin Dubravka, Loris Karius and Mark Gillespie also likely to leave.
Gillespie and Karius have just four appearances for Newcastle between them, with Howe relying on Dubravka as the understudy for undisputed No 1 Nick Pope.
And while the club do have to keep one eye on FFP regulations, the sale of four stars in January can aid Howe’s quest to bring in more quality himself when the winter window opens for business.
READ MORE: Newcastle looking to brush aside Man Utd in chase to sign Serie A midfield pivot