Yoshinori Muto’s Newcastle future is uncertain with fresh claims that he is looking for a move away to get first team football.
The Magpies will look to move on some fringe players in the January transfer window, with Newcastle looking to shift both Jack Colback and Henri Saivet after they ran out of time to move them on in the summer.
The pair are both kicking their heels in first team exile after being excluded from the first team squad but have a combined weekly wage of around £100,000 so it makes financial sense to move them on. The confusion around the managerial situation didn’t help Newcastle in the summer, with Steve Bruce undecided about Colback until late in the window.
But there are others who may be allowed to leave, with Muto’s future up in the air.
Bruce has utilised the forward this season, handing him a start at Leicester and in the League Cup, but with Andy Carroll’s return and Dwight Gayle fit again he is now effectively fourth in the pecking order and it's been suggested he would be open to a move away.
The £8million Rafa Benitez signing couldn’t force his way into Newcastle’s plans last season and injuries hardly helped his cause. But he wants first team football and if there are approaches Newcastle may be minded to listen to them.
Ideally Bruce wants to add to his squad rather than losing players but there’s an acceptance that there are a lot of players at a similar level in the squad and Newcastle may prefer to add one or two players capable of lifting the level of the squad while letting some of the others go.
