Anthony Gordon is back “in a good place” after being targeted by Liverpool, but Eddie Howe has refused to 100 percent guarantee his big players will stay.
The England winger was offered to Liverpool as part of Newcastle's chaotic scramble to raise cash in June, and the Anfield club were interested. But Ł70 million-rated Gordon, along with Alexander Isak and newly appointed skipper Bruno Guimaraes, remain at Newcastle, and Howe wants it to stay that way this week.
Gordon’s performance was heavily analysed by Toon fans last weekend looking for clues as to his commitment, and he gave his all in a battling ten-man defensive show.
He will start against Bournemouth this weekend, and asked about the impact transfer negotiations had on him, Howe said: “I’ve seen Anthony come back in a good place. Especially this past week, he had a really short training period before that first game.
"We put him in as he’s a difference-maker; it takes the younger players less time to get up to speed, but I think this week he has looked back to his best.
Asked if Gordon had a difficult summer, Howe said, “I don’t know. I think that there’s two ways to look at that. The Euros will have been an incredible experience for him. The first time that he will have been with England for any length of time, and I’m sure he’ll have learnt, seen, and experienced a lot from that.
"Sometimes, we all have this vision of the fairytale ending: you go in and help your country win the tournament, but life is rarely like that. Anthony will have seen a lot and hopefully use that for next time that he’s involved.”
But Howe says he won’t categorically state his elite trio won’t be the subject of late bids. He added, “I have been in the game too long to make those statements. What I will say is that from my part and the club’s part, we will do everything we can to keep our best players, but I am not a fortune teller.
"As managers, we learn to live with it in this world because we have to. But it's not ideal; there is a lot going on. Nowadays, if you put every player into your phone, they have probably been linked to other clubs, and 99 percent of it is nonsense.
“You can't change the player being affected by what they read and what he takes in. And suddenly a whole thought process goes away from what he needs to focus on, which is the next training session and the next game. So, the better the player can block it, the better you will be as a team, but it is certainly unsettling depending on how much noise there is around that player."
Joelinton is partnering Gordon on the left flank and was described by Alan Shearer as one of the best in the league last weekend. Howe added, "Yeah, I do agree with him. When he's at his best, I would absolutely hate to play against him.
"He is physically incredible. Last week he was at his best physically. He covered every blade of grass; he was involved in everything; duels; he was coming out with the ball in situations that he had no right to. He was covering and balancing our defence in a brilliant way.”
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"He is physically incredible. Last week he was at his best physically. He covered every blade of grass; he was involved in everything; duels; he was coming out with the ball in situations that he had no right to. He was covering and balancing our defence in a brilliant way.”
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