Eddie Howe hopes to keep Kieran Trippier at Newcastle but cannot guarantee that the England right-back will still be at St James’ Park at the end of next week.
“My wish is Kieran stays here and continues to play for us,” said Howe as he prepared for Sunday’s latest return to his former club Bournemouth. “But I can never answer with absolute certainty because it’s football and the window is always unpredictable. We take every case individually and try to make the right decision for the player and the club.”
After losing the captaincy to Bruno Guimarães and, for the moment at least, his first-team place to Tino Livramento, Trippier has asked to leave Newcastle, two and a half years after joining from Atlético Madrid. Everton, Galatasaray and Atalanta are among the clubs interested in a defender who turns 34 next month and has put his house in Northumberland up for sale.
Trippier’s England teammate Marc Guéhi is a decade younger and Newcastle are continuing long-running attempts to negotiate a £65m plus deal for the Crystal Palace centre-back. “There’s no news,” said Howe when asked for a progress report on the proposed deal. “I’m a step removed but I’m aware there’s still work going on behind the scenes.”
With the transfer window closing on 30 August and Newcastle having struggled to sell and buy players, Howe is becoming more than a little frustrated. To date, Lloyd Kelly, a free transfer from Bournemouth, is his only signing with a realistic chance of starting matches in the near future.
“It’s been the most difficult window I’ve experienced,” said Howe, who would like to reinforce his squad with a right-winger, in addition to Guéhi. “The June part of the window was incredibly difficult and now this part hasn’t been exactly easy either. It’s always going to be difficult because you’re competing for a very small pool of players and the competition is high from other clubs.”
That context is one reason why Howe seems particularly keen to resist parting with Trippier, maintaining that too much has been made of the player’s demotion to vice-captain. “It’s not that big a deal internally,” said Newcastle’s manager. “Kieran’s leadership skills, ability with the ball, his assist record, everything he brings to the group is everything we want here.
“Tripps is a really valuable member of the squad. His professionalism has been first-class. Since coming here he’s played a huge role in changing the narrative around the team. He galvanised the squad from the first day.”
Meanwhile, Newcastle have failed in their appeal against the red card shown to Fabian Schär during last Saturday’s 1-0 win over Southampton and so will be without the Switzerland centre-half for their next three games.
