Newcastle United boss Eddie Howe will hold end of season talks with a clutch of his Toon squad as he plans the next phase of his project at St James' Park.
Those talks are likely to begin soon after Newcastle's final game of the season at Burnley next weekend. Howe has played down talk of departures in recent weeks as he focused on the job of survival at Newcastle but with that task completed successfully, player agents are starting to reopen dialogue on their clients' next move.
The Magpies have a number of players with question marks above them going into the close season with squad members such as Karl Darlow, Dwight Gayle, Isaac Hayden, Jeff Hendrick, Matty Longstaff, Jamal Lewis, Ciaran Clark and Matt Ritchie all linked with departures in recent weeks. Darlow was subject to talk of a summer move to West Bromwich Albion this morning.
When asked about players leaving, Howe said today: "It is very difficult to comment or go into too much depth because I respect my players too much to give out what will happen in the future. "But yeah, I would say there are players here who, potentially, have not maybe featured too much under me so far who could stay and vice-versa so we will wait and see."
Howe has 32 senior players potentially checking in for pre-season including Elliot Anderson. Howe has already confirmed he will take a look at Anderson in pre-season after a successful loan period with Bristol Rovers.
But with four or five permanent signings set for United this summer plus potential loans and free transfers, Howe's departure list will be equally intriguing for some fans. The transfer window opens in 25 days.
