Three players Newcastle United should sell in the summer

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With the club all but promoted, these three will be surplus to requirements next season.

Newcastle United’s Vurnon Anita is shown a straight Red Card

With just a few games left to play in the Championship, Newcastle United are flying high, and it would now take an implosion of biblical proportions to prevent them returning to the Premier League at the first attempt.

Manager Rafael Benitez will undoubtedly want to bring in some fresh blood to give the Magpies the best possible chance of avoiding relegation, and as the Premier League only allows you a 25 man squad, some will have to be sold. Here are three players that will be surplus to requirements when Newcastle get promoted.

Vurnon Anita

The 28-year-old has made 25 Championship appearances at time of writing, but for someone who has been mixed in the English second division, it doesn’t exactly bode well for his chances back in the Premier League. Fair enough, he’s done a shift and has helped get Newcastle back into the top flight, but he isn’t the sort of player that the club needs to progress further up the table. It would be fairly surprising if Anita is retained by Benitez.

Jack Colback of Newcastle United in action with Fernando Forestieri of Sheffield Wednesday

Jack Colback

‘The Ginger Pirlo’ has been average at best since leaving Sunderland in 2014 for St James’ Park, and like Anita, the 27-year-old hasn’t adapted well to the Championship, despite the league being at a lower standard than the Premier League. There’s also a fairly large element of Newcastle fans who still see him almost as a Sunderland player, which amplifies his mistakes more so than it would a player who didn’t have that association with the Black Cats. Again, if Newcastle want to go places, they’ll need better than a player who’s spent most of his career in the bottom five places of the top flight.

Achaf Lazaar

It’s difficult to know quite where to start with Lazaar, as the left sided man – given the number seven shirt – has appeared just four times in the Championship all season – all from the subs bench – and looked hopeless whenever he’s stepped onto the pitch. Even against Rotherham United, who could still go down as the worst ever Championship side yet, Lazaar looked out of his depth, and this was in a 4-0 win for the Magpies. It’s best for all parties concerned that he’s let go, and he’ll inevitably feature on ‘players you forgot signed for Newcastle’ lists in the future.