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Mike Williamson is one of the Newcastle United players set to be cleared out in the summer.

Head coach John Carver has insisted some of the first-team squad are set to be moved on, sold or not offered a new contract when they run out at the end of this season to make way for the new signings the club have pledged to make in the summer.

And it does seem that the long-serving defender is coming to end of his time on Tyneside.

Williamson, 31, has played over 150 times for Newcastle since signing from Portsmouth six years ago and has been a regular starter this season.

Carver, if he is given the job in the long-term, hopes to have Steven Taylor back for next season, who he is a fan of, and with Jamaal Lascelles arriving in pre-season after his loan spell with Nottingham Forest, plus the promise of more defenders being bought, it does seem Williamson’s days are numbered.

Another factor is that Carver believes Paul Dummett’s future is as a centre-half, rather than at left-back.

Newcastle have also been linked with Charlton’s 17-year-old centre-half Joe Gomez, a regular with the England squad at his age group, and has been a regular in Charlton’s first-team this season in the Championship.

Gomez is one of the country’s best young players outside the Premier League. He was part of the England under-17 team along with Adam Armstrong and Freddie Woodman who lifted the European Championship last summer.

There are a few players who know their future at St James’ Park is in doubt, including the soon-to-be out-of-contract Sammy Ameobi and Ryan Taylor, who has just returned from his latest spell out with injury.

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Taylor may be given another year if he can prove his fitness, but it is understood that Ameobi will need to do more to earn himself a new deal.

Williamson has often been the focus of criticism by the supporters and he did not have a good day last Saturday when he was easily out-jumped by Olivier Giroud for Arsenal’s second goal.

However, nobody can fault his commitment to Newcastle over the years and he was named the club’s best player of last season – and deservedly so.

The former Watford defender, who began his career at Torquay United, is a popular figure in the dressing room.

Williamson is also one of first team who always speaks via the media to supporters even after a bad result and it’s to is great credit that he is always keen to represent Newcastle away from the club.