Newcastle United Head Coach Eddie Howe following the Carabao Cup Quarter Final match
Newcastle United Head Coach Eddie Howe following the Carabao Cup Quarter Final match
Eddie Howe wanted to make it clear to his Newcastle board that they can't afford any January exits in early 2025.
The Toon boss is acutely aware of growing speculation from Italy that Serie A clubs have worked out that Sandro Tonali could be available for £46million with Italian clubs looking to test the Magpies' resolve because of the tender PSR situation. Kieran Trippier, Martin Dubravka and Sean Longstaff are others have been linked with the exit door in the last seven days alone.
When asked if he could actually afford to lose players, Howe told Chronicle Live: "I think it is a very good question. I am aware of the links and the rumours. For me, I would love to keep the squad together. I don't want to lose anybody.
"We don't have the biggest squad already. So losing any players would be difficult for me. But we do have players returning from injuries. Hopefully, Sven Botman will be back soon and Emil Krafth will be back in the not too distant future. Certainly losing players is not in my thoughts."
Newcastle strolled to a 3-1 win over Brentford at St James' Park and got the job done in stress free manner. When asked how long he would savour the result and getting to the semi-finals, Howe joked that he may only give himself an hour.
Howe said: "I am now in the rhythm of doing it for so long, the little high is going around and seeing the supporters. Then it is back to work and how can we beat Ipswich.
"I think when you look back at our performances we have looked a much better attacking unit in recent games. We have got our attacking rhythm back. The Crystal Palace game was a freak of a game. We were 1-0 up and we didn't attack much.
"But then we went into Liverpool, even Brentford (2-4) we attacked OK and the last two home games you have really seen us back to our best and that is such an important quality we are going to need that in coming weeks."
Reflecting on the win over the Bees, Howe said: "It was a good performance from the players. Every game brings a new challenge and Brentford were what we thought we would be, a strong team.
"I thought we scored some really good goals. It was great to see Sandro [Tonali] score the two that he did. Just a really good feeling about the group at the moment. We are building in confidence all the time."