Ciaran Clark could well find himself facing the exit door at Newcastle United following news that has emerged surrounding a potential transfer at St James’ Park.
Having looked like near-certainties for relegation earlier in the season, Newcastle’s recent run of form under Eddie Howe has provided them with a huge boost in their fight for survival, with analysts FiveThirtyEight putting their chances of relegation at just 4% as things stand.
And according to Dean Jones, who spoke to GiveMeSport, Lloyd Kelly is one of the ‘most likely’ to join Newcastle as they prepare for what they hope will be another year of Premier League football next term.
He said: “Of all the names mentioned at Newcastle and of all the different profiles, Lloyd Kelly, I’m told, is one of the most likely to actually join the club.”
This claim could signal very bad news for 32-year-old Clark, as we explain:
The warning signs are already there
Clark isn’t in a good place at Newcastle to start with. Whether it be through injury or team selection issues, he hasn’t really been a regular at St James’ Park, only amassing 129 appearances since joining the club in 2016, with only three appearances made under Eddie Howe as the duo of Dan Burn and Fabian Schar have become the preferred pairing at the back, with Clark taken out of the 25-man Premier League squad entirely.
And now that he’s into the final 18 months of his contract, this summer was always likely to be the time that the club looked to move him on and cash in on him, especially if they have aspirations to be a little higher up the table than they are right now.
TIF Verdict…
Will Clark be at the club next season?
Yes
No
Given the way that Clark has been treated by Howe so far, it does seem as if his time at the club was going to be coming to an end sooner rather than later anyway, but any move for another defender would seem like the final nail in the coffin when it comes to the Irish international’s Toon career.
Even if a move for Kelly doesn’t come along, it seems as if Howe is making moves to bring in some form of central defender in the summer transfer window.
And unless something drastic happens between now and the end of the season in training, it seems hard to see how Clark will be able to get back into Howe’s thoughts for next season and get to a stage where they will want to keep him rather than bringing in a replacement.
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