Newcastle’s PIF owners to question Eddie Howe next week on poor run of form

Eddie Howe will discuss Newcastle’s declining form with the club’s Saudi Arabian majority owners when a high-powered contingent from Riyadh flies into the north for a scheduled board meeting next week.

The delegation, led by Newcastle’s chair, Yasir al-Rumayyan, from the Kingdom’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) will quiz Howe face-to-face on his team’s run of eight defeats in 11 Premier League games. Before the meeting, Newcastle, who sit 14th, visit Arsenal on Saturday evening. Regardless of the result, Howe is expected to be afforded the chance to detail his recruitment and training plans for this summer. And while Rumayyan’s backing for Howe remains typically opaque, there are no indications the 48-year-0ld will not be given the season’s remaining five games to try to turn things around before an in-depth performance at the end of the season.

Howe will be joined by several of the club’s UK-based executives, including the chief executive, David Hopkinson, and the sporting director, Ross Wilson, for next week’s meeting, during which the finalisation of plans to build a new training ground near Newcastle airport and the issue of whether to construct a new stadium or redevelop St James’ Park will also be reviewed.

Although the meeting is said to have been inked into the diary some weeks ago, it represents a rare visit from Rumayyan. He has not been seen on Tyneside since he attended the 3-2 home defeat against Liverpool in August. At that time, the controversial £125m transfer of Alexander Isak from Newcastle to the Merseyside club was coming to a conclusion. Eight months on, the board will doubtless debate the possible sale of, among others, Anthony Gordon.

Bayern Munich are reportedly interested in the England winger and Newcastle have made it clear they will demand around £75m for his signature. In an effort to avoid incurring a hefty fine for breaking European spending rules, they may also listen to offers for their England full-back Tino Livramento and Italy midfielder Sandro Tonali.