During the post-game scenes at St James' Park on Sunday, Callum Wilson made a solo journey to the Gallowgate End to wave to the Newcastle United supporters, and on his return journey, the No. 9 looked very emotional.
It was difficult to read that as anything other than a goodbye at the time, with his Newcastle contract running down this summer.
There had been no talk of negotiations taking place over a new deal, but there were links to other clubs with Leeds United and Everton both said to be keen.
However, despite this, Newcastle have left the door ajar for Wilson to stay, according to The Athletic.
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Newcastle have left the door open for Callum Wilson to walk back into the club
Newcastle have decided not to offer Wilson a new contract, but have said he can stay at the club on a pay-as-you-play basis.
The way The Athletic phrases it is that it's a deal that is 'more incentive-based', which sounds to us like a fancy way of saying 'pay-as-you-play'.
We have no objections to Wilson hanging around on that type of deal. Our problem has always been that he's taking up valuable space on the wage bill and giving us nothing in return, while he's always injured - same with Matt Targett.
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Only Callum Wilson will know how much he feels he has left in the tank
Wilson has taken to X to express his delight at Newcastle returning to the Champions League, but there are no hints there about his future, only that he's proud to have been part of something.
I guess it all comes down to how much of a part he feels he can play for a club going forward. If he's happy to remain on Tyneside, only getting paid when he plays, or whether he still feels he has enough to offer the likes of Everton or Leeds, with a hope of playing more regularly.
We can't imagine this will be a saga that will drag on for too long, so we should expect some answers pretty soon.