Get the latest NUFC transfer and takeover news straight to your inbox for FREE by signing up to our newsletter Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Newcastle United face a watershed moment on July 1, 2017.

It might seem a long way away – and who knows what madness might have transpired in the meantime – but all of United’s forward planning is being done with an eye on that summer.

Why? Well consider this list: Papiss Cisse, Tim Krul, Fabricio Coloccini, Vurnon Anita, Rolando Aarons and Paul Dummett. All current first teamers, all out-of-contract by the summer of 2017.

In addition Steven Taylor, Yoan Gouffran, Gabriel Obertan, Mike Williamson and Sylvain Marveaux are all out of contract in the next 12 months. That’s 11 senior squad members potentially out of the door for Newcastle, who need to either start offering beefed up deals or planning for the biggest player overhaul of the Mike Ashley era.

Clearly, there are some big decisions to be made in the next couple of years and it’s not one-way. If Newcastle are going to commit to players who are pushing towards 30, as Cisse, Krul and Tiote will be by then, they will need to see evidence that they can take the club forward.

Otherwise they’re going to have to start looking for potential suitors for them pretty soon – a process that you suspect was underway this summer with striker Cisse.

For me, a core group of players to take Newcastle forward makes sense as long as there is none of the troubling complacency of last year. They’re currently the second ‘most stable’ club in the Premier League, with squad members having been at the club for an average of nearly three years.

I’d be looking to extend Krul’s deal in the next 12 months, along with Aarons, Dummett and Anita. The jury is out on Coloccini and Cisse.