‘Definitely’: 29-year-old Newcastle winger set to leave club at end of season - journalist

Ryan Fraser's time at Newcastle United has been a strange one but it looks to be coming to an end.

The 29-year-old Scotland international is currently on loan at Championship side Southampton where he's found his form again. As such it's believed that the diminutive winger will seek a permanent move to the south-coast club.

Fraser arrived at Newcastle on a free transfer after leaving Bournemouth in contentious circumstances, falling out with then-boss, Eddie Howe.

Newcastle never saw the best of Fraser on a consistent basis

At Newcastle he showed flashes of what he could do but spent a lot of time injured, miraculously recovering to partake in internationals before picking up another knock.

PA

That didn't sit well with a large portion of the Toon Army and Fraser had his work cut out to win the supporters over.

Things got even worse for Fraser when the PIF-backed takeover went through and the new owners appointed Eddie Howe as manager. The two played nice for a while and Fraser was used regularly by Howe.

In fact seeing Fraser follow Dan Burn out of the tunnel became one of the highlights of the game for a lot of fans. However it soon came to an end when Howe sent Fraser to train with the reserves all-but ending his Newcastle career.

Southampton are keen to keep Fraser next season

Now back to his best at Southampton, transfer journalist Dean Jones has told GiveMeSport that he expects Fraser to remain there beyond his loan deal.

"I think if Southampton get the chance to sign Ryan Fraser then it's something that they will be jumping at if he continues to be like this. Not just a player, but the character that he's shown and the personality.

"Southampton were crying out for identity this season and they want to see a team that is playing a certain way but also has characters within it that match who they are and what they've been in the past. Ryan Fraser obviously had to make a big decision in terms of moving down to the Championship and he didn't want to commit himself to being at that level, but I think he's seeing signs that Southampton won't be at that level very long and that they can get out of it.

"And I think, yeah, Southampton will definitely want to sign Ryan Fraser permanently. It's just a case of proving to him that this is the place for him to be."

It's unlikely we'll get much of a fee for Fraser at this point, but we paid nothing for him anyway. Good luck wee man.