Newcastle United trio Jack Colback, Henri Saivet and Jamie Sterry will be allowed to leave in January, according to journalist Ciaran Kelly.
The Magpies correspondent revealed the news in a Chronicle Q & A [24/09; 12:24], claiming that head coach Steve Bruce is hopeful that all three will be able to secure regular football elsewhere come the winter transfer window.
Kelly doesn’t confirm whether that would mean loan or permanent exits for the Magpies outcasts, but it’s clear that they are not part of Bruce’s plans, having missed out on his 25-man Premier League squad for the season.
Bruce attempted to offload them in the summer, but was only able to secure loans for Achraf Lazaar and Rolando Aarons. However, he has kept them in first team training to keep their spirits high.
OPINION
This is a new way of doing things from Bruce. We know that former boss Rafael Benitez exiled a number of unwanted players to training with the kids because they weren’t part of his first team plans. However, Bruce is obviously aware that that can be extremely dispiriting for a player, and so he has kept all three men around the senior squad, even though they are not technically a part of it in a Premier League sense. It makes sense that he would want to get them out in January, because they are simply swallowing wages for nothing at the moment. Obviously permanent exits would be ideal, but leaving on loan seems like a much more realistic proposition. Colback and Saivet had pretty profitable loan spells last season, and so you’d think somebody might come in for them in January. Sterry needs to look at dropping a level or two, but either way all three should leave with a concerted effort.
