Eddie Howe has admitted he can’t guarantee Kieran Trippier will stay at Newcastle this summer – and defended his decision to make Bruno Guimaraes team captain.
The head coach has told Trippier he wants him to stay – and that he promoted midfielder Guimaraes above him to “empower” the Brazilian. Howe insists it is “business as usual” for the England right-back, who is open to leaving St James’ Park next week.
Trippier, 33, was unhappy to be left out for the first game of the season against Southampton with Tino Livramento given the shirt. The hope is that Guimaraes will deliver another five to 10 per cent in his game after becoming team skipper.
Howe admitted the current transfer window has been a nightmare with no big name yet landed to improve his squad, as they pursue £70million Marc Guehi. Asked about Trippier’s future Howe said: “My wish is that he stays. But I can never answer with absolute certainty Trippier has trained really well this week. He continues to be really valued by all of us.
“There’s never any doubt about his qualities as a player. He’s an outstanding player. We need as many outstanding players as we can here. He’s had two weeks’ training before the first game
“He's a valuable member of the squad. His professionalism has been first class. He's trained really well since he's come back from the Euros. He's only had two weeks training, hence the decision to not start him at the weekend and Tino has had a very good pre-season. That's the situation.
“He continues to be really valued by all of us. You want as many players as fit and available to select from as you can. Kieran certainly fits into that. His leadership skills, ability with the ball, his assist record, everything he brings to the group, is everything we want here.”
On the captaincy, Howe explained: “A lot has been made of it. It's not that big a deal internally. Jamaal Lascelles is not going to be fit for a long period of time so he's been promoted to club captain so he's going to oversee the captain and is an incredible leader behind the scenes.
“Kieran and Dan Burn in the leadership group continue to lead and Bruno has been promoted. It's a healthy group, there's more people in it.”
Howe says he is not closely involved in Newcastle’s transfer window deal making. He said: “There's no news. I am a step removed. It's always difficult for me to give you definitive answers but I'm aware there's still work going on behind the scenes. Training and preparation for Bournemouth has been as normal.”
Asked if it had been a draining window, Howe admitted: “Yeah, it’s been the most difficult I’ve experienced. Without going over old ground, the June part of the window was incredibly difficult and now this part hasn’t been exactly easy either.
“It’s always going to be difficult because you’re competing for a very small pool of players and the competition is high from other clubs. I always think you can judge windows in many different ways. Let’s make an initial assessment at the end but then also you have to give it time to see how things lie in a year or two’s time.”