Ritchie is stealing a living at Newcastle

Newcastle United seem like trying to the longer term at current below their bold new possession, with nice strides already having been made since PIF walked in the door, in addition to following the appointment of supervisor Eddie Howe.

The Magpies are at present in robust type having picked up 11 factors from their opening eight league video games within the early weeks of the brand new Premier League season, solely slipping to 1 defeat so far to counsel {that a} relegation scrap is probably not on the agenda this time round.

One man who has been on the periphery of that latest resurgence is veteran dud, Matt Ritchie, with the previous Bournemouth man seemingly unlikely to play a outstanding function for the northeast aspect shifting ahead.

The 33-year-old has featured simply once off the bench within the top-flight up to now this time period, with that solitary outing coming as a late substitute within the 1-1 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux, making a minute-long cameo towards the Midlands aspect.

The previous Scotland worldwide – who arrived at St James’ Park on a £10m deal again in 2016 – made his only different look up to now this time period within the slim League Cup conquer Tranmere Rovers, lining up in a right-wing berth towards the lower-league opponents.

Whereas the 16-cap man’s versatility to function each in an attacking function and at full-back has seen him tackle a helpful function in latest instances, the latest funding on the membership has solely served to additional shunt him down the pecking order, with a better function prone to be onerous to return by.

A dependable determine in his six-year stint at Newcastle – with a good haul of 24 targets and 33 assists in 190 video games in all competitions up to now – it does seem that the 5 foot 8 dud might nicely now have outstayed his welcome, with the ageing expertise seemingly now stealing a residing on the membership such is his restricted function.

That’s evidenced by the truth that the one-time Swindon City man continues to be raking in a reasonably hefty £45k-per-week wage, having now taken house £14m in whole from his wages through the years, as per FBref.

That could be a sizeable determine for a participant whose best season got here in his debut marketing campaign – scoring 12 targets within the Championship in 2016/17 below Rafa Benitez – with Ritchie having hardly ever fairly seemed as much as scratch on the prime degree.