Newcastle United consider striker bid as emotional farewell message issued

Newcastle United missed out on Europe last season but the reduced number one games might actually turn out to be a positive for them in the next campaign. Eddie Howe is preparing for another year in charge of the North East outfit.

He has the chance to bring in some more signings over the next couple of months. With that in mind, here is a look at some of the latest news and rumours coming out of the club...

Goalkeeper latest

Newcastle are being linked with a swoop for departing Birmingham City goalkeeper John Ruddy. According to a report by The Mirror, he has been offered a deal by the Toon Army ahead of next term and has been in talks with Charlton Athletic.

The stopper has taken to Instragam to send the following message to the Blues’ supporters: "I would just like to say thank you. Thank you to all of you Bluenoses that made me and my family feel so welcome at your wonderful club over the last two years.

"It didn’t end as any of us wanted to but I hope the one thing that you can say about me was I gave everything every time I pulled the shirt on.

“Sometimes it was enough and other times it wasn’t to be, but it was a genuine privilege to play for your club.”

Newcastle could see Ruddy as useful competition and back-up between the sticks. He would also inject experience into their ranks.

He joined Birmingham in 2022 and has been their number one over the past two years. However, he couldn’t prevent them from relegation in this past campaign to League One after they finished in the bottom three along with Rotherham United and Huddersfield Town.

The 37-year-old has 551 appearances in his career to date and has also had spells at Everton, Norwich City and Wolves.

Striker on radar

Newcastle are reportedly keen on Georgia striker Georges Mikautadze from Metz, according to Football Insider. He has caught the eye recently playing at Euro 2024 and helped his country beat Portugal on Wednesday night to progress into the Round of 16 against the odds.

Borussia Dortmund, Napoli, Monaco, Lyon and Marseille have also been credited with an interest so Howe’s side would need to see off interest from elsewhere to get him.

Ajax snapped him up 12 months ago but he struggled to make an impact with the Eredivisie giants. He played only nine times for the Amsterdam club before he was shipped out on loan to Metz in January to get some more game time and boost his confidence.

The French outfit then took up their option to sign him permanently recently and could make a tidy profit on him after the Euros.

They have been relegated to Ligue 2 and it would be unlikely for him to stay put in the second tier.

Newcastle could have identified him as someone to bolster their attacking department but would need to see off competition from plenty of other teams in Europe if they were to get him.