Newcastle manager Eddie Howe is confident Anthony Gordon will stay at the club despite links with a move to Liverpool.
There has been a period of significant change at St James’ Park over the last few weeks, with directors Amanda Staveley and Mehrdad Ghodoussi leaving amid the appointment of Paul Mitchell as the club’s new sporting director.
Howe, meanwhile, is one of the FA’s leading candidates to replace Gareth Southgate as England manager.
The Magpies boss insists he has an “unwavering” commitment to his job on Tyneside but suggested working conditions must be right under the new-look regime.
Gordon, who shone during his first full season as a Newcastle player, was reportedly the subject of talks between Newcastle and Liverpool while the North East club were looking to raise money to comply with the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
There have been suggestions the 23-year-old was open to moving to Anfield but Howe believes the winger remains happy with the club.
“We’ve had no conversations over the summer where it has been fractious or negative,” he said.
“He’s always been the Anthony Gordon who has given absolutely everything to Newcastle and I want to make that clear to all our supporters.”
“Anthony needs a bit of a break but by the time he comes back, he’ll be ready to go. He’s such an important player for us. We didn’t want to lose anybody. Why would we want to lose our best players?
“We fought really hard to make the right decisions but in those last few weeks it was very, very difficult [selling Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh].”
