Eddie Howe to tell Paul Mitchell his big aim this summer is to keep hold of 'outstanding' forward

Newcastle United recently appointed world-class sporting director Paul Mitchell to come in and oversee the club's transfer business.

Paul Mitchell will work with Eddie Howe to identify and acquire targets to bring in during transfer windows, as well as discussing which players could and should be moved on.

Right now, Newcastle's focus is on bringing in new faces as things have been moving rather slowly on that front thanks to international tournaments and behind-the-scenes shuffling.

However, The Northern Echo believes that Eddie Howe's first demand for Paul Mitchell will be retention rather than acquisition.

Eddie Howe will reinforce his desire to keep Calum Wilson to Paul Mitchell

Eddie Howe already made his feelings known about Callum Wilson's future at the end of last season, declaring that he wants to keep the £ 20 million former Bournemouth man at the club next season.

“Of course, I want him (Wilson) at the club next season. I’ll do everything I can to make that happen. Write him off at your peril for sure because he comes back time and time again. I’ve managed him for a very long time now and, mentality-wise, I wouldn’t swap him.”

Howe views Wilson as an 'outstanding' player and believes it would cost too much to replace him, and while it certainly would cost a fair bit to find someone with a similar goal-scoring record, we can't move forward if we stick with the same players every year.

We can't keep Callum Wilson without a third option

While we acknowledge that Wilson's record for Newcastle has been fantastic, the fact that he missed 25 games last season and is now 32 years old are two factors that cannot be overlooked.

At times, Eddie Howe's loyalty is exasperating and with Wilson, he runs the risk of tarnishing his legacy by forcing another year out of him. It's a coin toss as to whether Wilson will have a season in which he bags plenty of goals or spends the majority of the campaign sidelined.

If Newcastle aren't going to bring in a third striker, that second scenario could be catastrophic.

We're not opposed to keeping Wilson on for another year, but it is imperative that a third centre-forward is signed if we do, but there's no getting away from the fact that the common sense move is to cash in on him this summer before we lose him for free next year.