Eddie Howe hints at plans to hand Newcastle trio new contracts after Ross Wilson appointment

Eddie Howe has hinted at plans to hand new contracts to three of his Newcastle players following the arrival of recently-appointed sporting director Ross Wilson.

Wilson, who was previously Nottingham Forest’s chief of football, replaced Paul Mitchell in the role at St James’s Park after his stint at the Magpies lasted less than 12 months.

One of his first orders of business could be to tie down a handful of key men in Howe’s team, with new deals touted for Sandro Tonali and Tino Livramento, whose contracts expire in 2028, as well as Sven Botman, whose current deal will enter its final year at the end of this season. Fabian Schar and Kieran Trippier, meanwhile, see their contracts expire at the end of next June.

“That’s one that’s waiting for Ross,” Howe said ahead of Newcastle’s trip to Brighton this weekend. “These conversations will all be led by him. And of course I’m sure he’s all over that and looking into the contract length of all the players and then starting conversations accordingly.”

Under Wilson, Forest broke their transfer record on numerous occasions, with Omari Hutchinson’s £37.5m move from Ipswich this summer their biggest outlay.

Newcastle meanwhile spent £250m on new signings this summer, with the British record £125m sale of Alexander Isak limiting their net spend to £98m.

While acknowledging the role Wilson will have in transfer strategy, Howe says he is giving his new sporting director a moment to settle in before getting into the thick of future planning.

Howe added: “We’ve had meetings, but transfers? No, not yet. I think I’ll let him sit down and let him get used to his surroundings before bombarding him with that.

“But we will have time for all those key decisions and meetings that we need to (have) and strategic planning for the future.

“At the moment, I think it’s important he just gets to know the staff, the players and gets an idea of how everything works. Then of course he can make changes as he sees fit to take everything forward and make it better.”