GiveMeSport
·11 March 2022
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·11 March 2022
Federico Fernandez and Ciaran Clark are surplus to requirements at Newcastle, according to transfer insider Dean Jones.
Several Magpies players could leave the club this summer, and Jones believes that Fernandez and Clark could be two of those.
Both players will have entered the final 12 months of their St James’ Park contracts at the end of the season, with neither contributing much to Eddie Howe’s cause of late.
Fernandez has made just seven appearances this term and hasn’t featured since December, while Clark was a regular earlier in the campaign, starting 10 of the first 12 top-flight games, but hasn’t even been named in the squad since the January window closed, with Dan Burn’s arrival not helping his case.
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Therefore, the pair have been named on a seven-man list of players that could be sold this summer as Howe looks to revamp his squad following an expected overhaul of players in the next window.
Fernandez has turned out 89 times for the club, while Clark, who’s in his sixth season on Tyneside, has made 129 appearances for the Toon Army.
Regardless, Jones believes that neither player are likely to be a part of Howe’s squad next term, with a number of new arrivals likely.
When asked about the future of Fernandez and Clark, Jones told GIVEMESPORT: “They’re both surplus to requirements.”
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It’s already become clear since the January window closed that neither of these players are part of Howe’s plans.
When everyone is fit, Fernandez and Clark are essentially fourth and fifth choice centre-backs behind Jamaal Lascelles, Fabian Schar and January arrival, Dan Burn.
Therefore, despite nine substitutes being allowed in the Premier League nowadays, there’s no guarantee that either will even be named on the bench, which means summer exits are probably the best outcome for all parties involved.
If they’re struggling to even make the bench right now, their respective situations are likely to only get worse once Newcastle invest heavily in their squad this summer.