Here are your Newcastle United evening headline for Wednesday, February 10.
Ian Wright sends relegation warning
Ian Wright has warned Newcastle and Burnley that the pressure will come from Sheffield United as they look to steer clear of the relegation zone.
At present, Burnley and Newcastle sit eight and 10 points clear of the drop, though 18th-placed Fulham have a game-in-hand in Newcastle. Sheffield United sit a further four points down from Fulham, but Wright believes that, given their uptick in form, should they leapfrog West Brom and Fulham into 18th, pressure will be placed on those above.
"Once they get into that place where they are 18th or in and around the relegation zone then people will be afraid of them," Wright told Ringer FC's Wrighty's House podcast.
"Sheffield United are not going to give you an easy ride and then they will be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
"So that then puts pressure on Burnley, on Newcastle and then the pressure starts coming.
"For me, if I'm Chris Wilder, I am having that team-talk."
Norwich director's brutal Jacob Murphy verdict
Norwich City have no pride in how Jacob Murphy's career has panned out since leaving the club in 2017.
Newcastle signed Murphy from Norwich in 2017 for £12.5 million. The winger has yet to live up to that price tag, and Norwich sporting director Stuart Webber says that he will not sell the young Norwich stars to lower-level Premier League teams again as he wants them to have more success than Murphy has had.
"There is always another hero and you have to take emotion out of it when you’re running it; always plan for these departures because they are inevitable," Webber told The Athletic.
"We can’t pay people massive money, we can’t give them the structure of a massive club. We give them the opportunity to develop and work with freedom to try to get to the next level.
"I had this conversation with a couple of the younger boys last summer that, with the greatest respect, we’re not selling you to a club at the bottom of the Premier League.
"No. If you’re going, you’re going to a club that will be fighting for Europe because that’s the next stage of our model.
"It’s James Maddison and Ben Godfrey, not — without being rude — what happened to Josh and Jacob Murphy or Alex Pritchard, because that pains me, to be honest.
"We want to produce players who go and play in the Champions League — not ones who end up being subs in the Championship.
"We don’t have any pride in that."
Government minister reveals Saudi meeting
Government minister Lord Gerry Grimstone revealed that he met with Saudi Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah Al-Swah last week in an effort to improve connections with Saudi Arabia.
Lord Grimstone insisted that the Public Investment Fund-backed takeover was not discussed between the two parties, though he was involved in discussions between the Government, the Premier League and PIF previously.
"It's not something that came up on my trip," he replied to Sky News when asked why people in Newcastle were excited at the prospect of him and Saudi officials meeting.
"That's very much a commercial matter between the two parties and I'd like to see Newcastle at the top of the Premier League but it's a commercial matter rather than a ministerial matter."
