Dean Jones has told Give Me Sport that Newcastle manager Eddie Howe “doesn’t rate” Miguel Almiron – and he could be sold in the summer. That is, despite the Paraguay international starting the last two league games.
Almiron, 28, failed to start for Newcastle in the Premier League since mid-December, before he was handed a chance in the starting line-up during the 1-0 defeat to Chelsea. Almiron also started against Everton before the break.
A 41-time Paraguay international, Almiron has fallen down the pecking order since the arrival of Howe. When everyone is fit, Allan Saint-Maximin and Ryan Fraser start out wide. Jacob Murphy has impressed now and then.
TeamTalk reported in March that Newcastle were ready to offload seven players and the £20million signing from Atlanta United is one of those. They also include Jamal Lewis, Matt Ritchie and plenty of other players.
Jones spoke out on Howe’s opinion of Almiron: “Almiron is available for transfer. The simplest way to state it is that Howe doesn’t rate him and doesn’t think he can fit in with the way he’s heading.”
Jones on Almiron: Howe must mould his Newcastle squad in summer
It is weird to think that Howe has only been Newcastle manager for less than five months, since his appointment in early November. He has only had a January window to mould his squad, with only a couple leaving.
This summer, he will obviously have the chance to bring in new players – but Howe will also be able to pick and choose which of his current stars should be kept, and which should be shown the door.
It is clear that he thinks Almiron is not the required standard and needs to go. Howe will have big decisions to make in the summer on his out-of-contract players – Sean Longstaff and Fabian Schar, most notably.
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