The Newcastle United team for next season.
Only one match to go of this current campaign and then we can start (hopefully!) looking forward to what 2026/27 brings.
So what do you see as the first choice Newcastle United team to lead the way next season?
I think it is fair to say that we are all expecting a busy transfer window.
Plenty of incoming signings AND those who will be leaving.
This is what I am predicting when it comes to Eddie Howe’s preferred NUFC side.
First choice Newcastle United team 2026/27
NEW SIGNING
Tino Livramento
Malick Thiaw
Sven Botman
Lewis Hall
Sandro Tonali
Bruno Guimaraes
Jacob Ramsey
Harvey Barnes
William Osula (or a NEW SIGNING)
Anthony Elanga (or a NEW SIGNING)
My thoughts
I would be amazed if Newcastle United don’t have a new first choice goalkeeper next season. Plenty of names linked with NUFC and impossible to tell which ones are serious contenders. What I do know though is it won’t be Pope or Ramsdale as number one keeper.
The biggest problem for the Newcastle United defence was the fact it was ever changing. Mostly due to injuries but also the sheer number of games. I think Thiaw and Botman will be the first choice pairing next season and they are finishing the season well.
Eddie Howe in recent days has talked about Livramento and Hall set to be here for years as first choice. I never thought Hall would leave this summer and if there had been any chance of Tino going, I think his recent injury issues will further ensure he is here for at least one more season. Plus of course he is an exceptional player when fully fit so why would Eddie Howe want to lose him??
There is endless speculation about Tonali and Bruno but that is what you get when you have two brilliant midfielders. If they were rubbish then the media wouldn’t continually make stuff up about them going elsewhere. I think it is absolutely imperative for them to still be at Newcastle United next season and I believe they will be.
It isn’t that I think Joelinton is going to leave, far from it. That though doesn’t change the fact that surely Jacob Ramsey will be first choice next season. Despite an early injury, I think the summer 2025 signing has had a really decent first season and has improved more and more as time went on. He and Joelinton are completely different types of player but to play a quick passing style we have to have Ramsey in the team. He complements Bruno and Tonali perfectly and the assists he got in the last two matches against Forest and West Ham are a sign of what is to come. He adds pace and the ability to carry the ball, link midfield with attack, I am excited to see what he can do next season.
With Anthony Gordon set to leave, it must mean we will see Harvey Barnes as first choice next season. He might prefer to play on the left but as the game against West Ham showed, he can also do it on the right. I also think he can thrive if having the likes of Ramsey in the team, we saw that in both these last two matches and they are both intelligent mobile players who can pop up around the attacking third.
The most difficult positions to call are the other two attacking roles.
Gordon looks sure to go and my feeling is that Nick Woltemade will as well. I do rate and like him as a player but I think it is really difficult to succeed as a striker in the Premier League for a player like him, much more suited to other leagues in Europe. He did well against West Ham but they were poor and gave our players a lot more space than other PL teams generally do, it allowed him to play further up the pitch as well with Newcastle the dominant side. I think Woltemade needs to play as the main striker but then if he does it means you don’t have the threat of pace for the opposition defence, unless you have others regularly getting beyond the centre-forward. Playing Big Nick as a first choice player behind the main striker is very difficult (impossible?) to consistently make it work.
With Wissa set to be a back up striker in my opinion next season, that then for me leaves it between William Osula and a new signing to be first choice in 2026/27. A huge call for Eddie Howe to make and maybe much of this will depend on who is available in the transfer window. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a striker come in, with he and Osula sharing the workload through the middle.
The likes of Jacob Murphy will still be here next season but I see it as Anthony Elanga or a new signing for the final place in the first choice team next season. Maybe Eddie Howe will already have decided he has to have a new first choice option on the right but my gut feeling is that he will give Elanga a chance to convince him in pre-season and if he isn’t convinced, then relatively late in the transfer window I could see the former Forest winger getting sold to help finance a replacement.