Newcastle United will be running with the joint smallest senior squad in the Premier League this season.
The Premier League’s official squad lists published following the closure of the summer transfer window confirm just 19 senior players in Newcastle’s squad.
Clubs are permitted to name a maximum of 25 senior players in their squad to be eligible to play in Premier League matches. Any player not included in the list and born before January 1, 2005 is ineligible to play for the club in the Premier League.
Following the departures of Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes, Kieran Trippier, Emil Krafth, John Ruddy, Alex Murphy, Aaron Ramsdale and Nick Woltemade over the summer, Newcastle have been left with a senior squad of just 19 players. No Premier League club has a smaller squad list, with only Everton (also 19) having a squad list with six vacant spaces.
For context, Manchester City and Chelsea, who regularly pad out their squads with young players and academy graduates, only have 20 players named in their 25-man squad lists.
Newcastle’s reduced squad size is due to five of the club’s eight summer signings being too young. Any player born on or after January 1, 2005 is omitted from the squad list. As such £165million worth of summer signings - Ewen Jaouen, Bazoumana Toure, Sean Steur, Aladji Bamba and Matias Fernandez-Pardo - are listed as Under-21s players and don’t take up a squad place.
We have launched a WhatsApp NUFC channel to bring the latest news, analysis and team & injury updates directly to your phone. Simply click this link to join our NUFC WhatsApp channel.
20-year-old midfielder Lewis Miley is another first-team player not included in the squad due to his age. Also included on the Under-21s list is previously unannounced summer arrival Ousmane Diabate, who will remain on loan at Turkish club Gençlerbirliği for the 2026/27 campaign despite being named as a Newcastle player.
Free transfer Afner Ca is also named on the Under-21s list after signing a professional contract with the club following his release from Levante. In total, Newcastle made 10 summer signings on professional contracts but only three will take up a place in the Premier League squad list.
The reduced senior squad list gives Newcastle room to potentially expand its squad in January or even with free transfers, but as things stand, Matthias Jaissle is running with a young squad this season.
Newcastle’s 19-man squad list includes goalkeepers Nick Pope and Mark Gillespie. Pope was made available to leave the club this summer and hasn’t featured in any of the seven matchday squads in pre-season or competitive games since Jaissle’s appointment.
Gillespie signed for Newcastle six years ago but has mostly been used as a training ground goalkeeper and has not featured in the Premier League. Premier League guidance dictates that any contracted senior player eligible to be named in a squad should be named, provided there is a space available.
Premier League squads must also include no more than 17 players who aren’t home-grown. While none of Newcastle’s summer signings were home-grown, only Lukas Hornicek, Amar Dedic and Nico Gonzalez added to the non-home-grown quota - which stands at just eight players.
1. Lukas Hornicek
Getty Images
2. Nick Pope
Home-grown | Getty Images
3. Mark Gillespie
Home-grown | Getty Images
4. Sven Botman
Getty Images