Newcastle United forgotten man 'waves goodbye' to club ahead of summer release

Newcastle United midfielder Rodrigo Vilca will be looking for a new club this summer following the end of his loan spell at FC Voždovac.

The 25-year-old midfielder joined Newcastle in 2020, signing a four-year deal which expires next month. He spent the final year of his contract on loan at Serbian side Voždovac.

It was the third loan spell of Vilca’s time at Newcastle having previously represented Doncaster Rovers in League One and Universitario in his home country Peru. He also played 27 times for Newcastle’s Under-21s side after joining from Deportivo Municipal as a 21-year-old. Vilca’s loan spell in Serbia was not a successful one as he was limited to just eight stars and could not help Voždovac avoid relegation to the second tier, scoring once. The midfielder subtly announced his departure from Serbia by posting a photograph from the Nikola Tesla Airport in Belgrade along with a ‘wave’ and ‘heart’ emoji.

His contract at Newcastle expires next month and he will not be offered a new one by the Premier League side. The Magpies will see several players leave the club as free agents this summer.

Vilca, Jeff Hendrick, Kell Watts, Loris Karius, Paul Dummett and Matt Ritchie are all senior players whose contracts at Newcastle expire at the end of June. Under-21s players Michael Ndiweni, Matthew Bondswell, Dylan Stephenson, Jude Smith, Kyle Crossley, Jordan Hackett, Amadou Diallo and Lucas De Bolle will also be free to find new clubs when their deals expire this summer.