Newcastle United midfielder rules out summer transfer - doesn’t feature in Eddie Howe’s plans

Hayden spent the second half of the season on-loan at Fratton Park and played a key role as Pompey avoided relegation to League One. After joining them sat just one point and one place above the relegation zone, Hayden helped John Mousinho’s side to a 16th place finish, five points ahead of Luton Town who suffered back-to-back relegations.

Hayden made 17 appearances during his time at Portsmouth and, after losing his place as a starter during March, finished the season strongly with four starts in his last five outings as Portsmouth confirmed their survival with time to spare. The 30-year-old has also featured at international level this season, accepting a call by Steve McClaren to play for Jamaica.

However, despite finally finding a place he can play regular football after two underwhelming loan spells at Norwich City and Standard Liege and being out of Eddie Howe’s first-team plans altogether, Hayden has ruled-out the possibility of joining Portsmouth on a permanent basis during the summer transfer window.

Isaac Hayden’s Portsmouth transfer admission

Hayden hasn’t featured in a competitive game for Newcastle United since December 2021 and was not named in their 25-man Premier League squad at the beginning of the season. Hayden made an appearance for the Under-21’s in the National League Cup against Halifax Town in October, but will not be part of the senior squad next season, despite having a year left on his current contract.

Speaking about his future at Fratton Park, though, Hayden admitted that he won’t be returning next season: “When I came to the club initially it was a ‘you help me and I’ll help you situation’. I don’t think there’s anything more than that,” the former Arsenal and Hull City man said.

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“I think financially it’s a little bit of a difficult conversation and also when I spoke to people at the end of January when I signed, the situation was the club want to go in a younger direction. I don’t think they want to go with players who are my age and above.

“So it’s one of those where they gave me the games and the platform to play, I’ve played, done well and we’ve stayed up - everyone’s a winner. I knew already for a while it was going to be a situation like that, and they were the circumstances I was coming here under.

“I’m now go into a situation off the back of some games, some good games, and I can now go into the summer and international football in a good space.”

Jamaica will play World Cup qualifiers and take part in the Concacaf Gold Cup this summer with eyes on next summer’s World Cup that will be held in the USA, Mexico and Canada. Hayden has been capped four times by Jamaica and made his debut in November during their 5-2 aggregate Concacaf Nations League quarter-final defeat to the USA.

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