Newcastle looking at summer move for 23-year-old England midfielder, club could be forced to sell

Young English players are very much the order of the day under Eddie Howe and the Newcastle United boss has another one in his sights for a potential summer move.

Eddie Howe likes the players he signs to be mostly Premier League-proven proven albeit with the odd exception, which is why it's no surprise to see Arsenal's Emile Smith-Rowe's name back in the mix.

Journalist Joel Bland posted on X on Sunday that Newcastle remain interested in the 23-year-old but is expecting interest in the three-times England-capped international to be high with Arsenal likely to have to sell players this summer to balance the books.

Newcastle have been linked with Smith-Rowe in the past with a January move mooted towards the back end of last year, but as we know Financial Fair Play put a halt on any first-team business.

Emile Smith-Rowe has fallen down the pecking order at Arsenal

Smith-Rowe has hardly been used by Mikel Arteta this season with just 16 appearances in all competitions to his name this season and with that just one assist.

A knee injury kept the midfielder out of action for over a month in November and December, but Smith-Rowe's place has been on the bench regardless this season having made just three starts all season and never completing a full game.

It definitely looks like Smith-Rowe is surplus to requirements at Arsenal, then, but that will only mean that more clubs will fancy their chances of signing him in the summer.

Where would Smith-Rowe fit in Newcastle's team?

We've seen how talented Smith-Rowe is, so it's strange how Arteta has stopped relying on him so much but given Arsenal's league position, it's hard to argue with the results.

Our big question is where would he fit into our midfield? If we manage to keep hold of Joelinton this summer, you'd think we already have our midfield trio sorted with him, Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali with Joe Willock and Lewis Miley as backup.

It's unlikely that Smith-Rowe will want to move only to find himself on the bench again, so we don't see this one coming off unless there's a big outgoing player to make way.