REPORTS: Atsu Transfer Listed and Muto Loan Move Likely

After making a plethora of signings, Newcastle are looking to offload some other parts of their squad in order to clear some cash for new wages, and to make room for potentially more players down the road.

The club have already got things going by loaning Florian Lejeune to Deportivo Alavés for the season. The move should clear some cash for the club’s wage budget and could allow Lejeune to regain form going into next season.

The club are also looking to loan another player out to a La Liga side. This time, it is forgotten forward Yoshinori Muto, who was a promising talent out of the Bundesliga that Rafa Benitez signed a couple of seasons back.

Muto is reportedly on his way to side SD Eibar per Lee Ryder of the Chronicle. The La Liga side has sat comfortably in the middle of the table for the past few seasons, and Muto should have a chance to impress at a side that is not exactly a threat to win the league or get relegated.

This was confirmed by Steve Bruce in his press conference ahead of the EFL Cup match against Blackburn.

There have also been murmurs of players who are going to be outright sold this window, Rolando Aarons, Henri Saivet, and Achraf Lazaar are all players who have been rumored with a move away from Newcastle.

Photo by Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images

Christian Atsu is the latest player to be added to the transfer list per The Chronicle. The writing was on the wall for Atsu, who had made less and less appearances since his breakout campaign in Newcastle’s Championship season. With addition of Ryan Fraser and Jacob Murphy looking like he will be a depth piece for Newcastle this season, Atsu is likely not going to be in Steve Bruce’s plans this year,

Bruce reiterated this sentiment when speaking about both players. It is clear that Bruce is trying to find homes for these players as they will certainly not be playing for Newcastle this season.

Bruce said this about both players today

“I like Christian - the same goes for Muto - trains every day, works tirelessly, a good professional - but in a situation where, are they going to play enough?

“There has to come a time when they go and play football.”

Right now there is no destination in mind for Atsu, but given his quality in the Championship, there could be a host of Championship clubs chasing his signature. Atsu additionally has had some solid spells in Portugal, Denmark and Spain so he could find himself in one of those destinations as well.