Champions League qualification will not influence Newcastle United's summer transfer plans

Newcastle United are pushing for a top-four finish this season to secure a spot in next season's Champions League, although the coefficient suggests that fifth spot will also nab a Champions League spot.

The goal to finish in a qualifying place for Europe's top competition is not a secret, but after losing three of the last four Premier League games, the Magpies are facing an uphill battle to reach their goal.

Nottingham Forest and Liverpool are up next in the Premier League for Newcastle, too, and if Saturday's performance at Manchester City is anything to go by, they're going to be awful games to sit through.

Not only do fans want to see Newcastle on the big stage again, there's also a feeling that if we fail to qualify for Europe this season, we could be seeing the back of one or two top players who will want to go somewhere their ambitions can be realised.

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Newcastle will not sanction moves for any top stars this summer

Alexander Isak, Anthony Gordon and Bruno Guimaraes are never too far away from a transfer rumour linking them with a so-called bigger club, and failing to offer them European football for a second season in a row might be enough for them to turn their back on the club.

However, The Daily Mail believes that regardless of whether Newcastle qualify for the Champions League this season, they will not sanction the departure of any of the sides big players.

Indeed, the plan is to show ambition by bringing in top players to play around them, and they believe this will be enough to convince them to stay.

Newcastle have their stars locked down to good contracts

Away from the ambition side of things, Newcastle have their top players locked down on good contracts and therefore sit in the power seat when it comes to negotiations.

Should any player voice their concerns over not playing in the Champions League, it's expected that the message will be simple - Earn a Champions League place here.

We have players capable of snaring us a Champions League spot; there's no doubt about that, but they shoulder the burden of the entire club. There's simply not enough quality behind them to allow Eddie Howe to rotate, and fatigue/burnout is inevitable. That's why we keep losing games we should be winning, and that's why we have games like we had on Saturday.

If Newcastle can recruit well in the summer, then we should have no problem qualifying for the Champions League next season, but with a paper-thin squad like we have now, are we asking too much of our current stars? The board are said to be 'frustrated' by recent results, but they caused it by not strengthening the squad.