Eddie Howe drops Newcastle United contract bombshell due to UEFA rules - five players 'set' to leave

Newcastle United have several players out of contract next month.

Loris Karius is set to leave the club when his contract expires with the goalkeeper not involved for the post-season trip to Australia. But two players who have made the trip are Matt Ritchie and Paul Dummett, whose futures are yet to be secure.

Both players are expected to leave Newcastle when their deals expire at the end of June but Eddie Howe has suggested that nothing has been decided just yet.

“The players that you’re talking about are just incredible characters,” Howe said ahead of the trip to Australia. “There is slight doubt over their futures but we go to Australia with them.

“European qualification may potentially have a bearing on what happens with their future but what I will say is Paul Dummett and Matt Ritchie have been incredible servants to the football club. I absolutely love their characters and what they’ve given.

“Sometimes it's very easy to define success by what happens on the pitch but you have a process, training ground work, an environment and culture you're trying to create and these two players have been absolutely fundamental to how we work behind the scenes. I can't speak highly enough of them.”

Newcastle’s 4-2 win at Brentford on the final day of the Premier League season secured a seventh-place finish in the top flight. That will only be enough for Conference League qualification should Manchester City beat Manchester United in the FA Cup final.

Matt Ritchie missed out on a place in Newcastle’s Champions League squad in 2023-24 but Paul Dummett was named as a ‘club-trained’ player. As per UEFA rules, clubs must name eight homegrown players and four ‘club-trained’ players who were contracted to the club for three seasons between the ages of 15 and 21 in order to fulfill a 25-player squad quota for European competitions.

As things stand, Newcastle’s first-team club-trained players are Dummett, Sean Longstaff, Elliot Anderson and Joe White. Lewis Miley also falls into the category of ‘club-trained’ but would not take up a place in Newcastle’s squad due to his age.

If a club are unable to fill the homegrown or club-trained player quotas, their squad sizes will be reduced accordingly.

Here’s how long Newcastle United’s contracted players have left on their current deals...