Newcastle - 26/27 Draft FPL Pre-Season Thoughts

Written 23rd July 2026 · Everything here very much subject to change, subscribe to the podcast/YouTube channel for all the latest.

This blog is part of Draft FC's Team-by-Team 2026/27 early pre-season series — see all 20 previews in one place here

The furniture keeps leaving

A disappointing season for Newcastle last year, 12th on 49 points, no Europe, no cup run and a summer that has felt like watching the bailiffs carry out of the valuables piece by piece. Given the summer that Newcastle are having it must feel like a book is being closed on a golden period for their squad in terms of the talent they had available. Eddie Howe stays which is perhaps a bit surprising considering the managerial turnover through the rest of the league - to me it feels like things are fairly flat at Newcastle currently. So far out the door we've seen Anthony Gordon to Barcelona for £69m, Sandro Tonali to Spurs for upwards of £100m, Trippier left on a free and on top of all that, Bruno Guimarães is the subject of persistent transfer rumours.

In so far: Bazoumana Touré, a £40m winger from Hoffenheim, Sean Steur from Ajax for £20.5m and Ewen Jaouen in to compete for a starting spot in goal.

The penalty vacancy

Gordon took Newcastle's penalties. Gordon is gone. The listed deputies were Bruno Guimarães - currently the subject of all that Arsenal chatter - and Woltemade. This is one of the great unresolved value questions of the preseason, because on a team that will still create plenty at St James' Park, inherited pen duty is worth a round or 2 of draft position all by itself. Woltemade is my current favourite for the job, which nudges an otherwise hard-to-judge player - 108 points, drifting into deeper roles late in the season, not obviously for the better - into genuinely interesting territory.

Strikers

One of the more interesting Newcastle names on the board is William Osula who scored 7 goals in 811 minutes last season, which is a frankly silly rate, and our model - extrapolating those minutes forward - struggles to come up with a sensible number. Our latest iteration gives him 158, which allowing for more minutes feels reasonable. The issue is always minutes and in Newcastle's case they still have Wissa and Wöltemade on their books from last summer seemingly competing for the same spot. The main potential blocker is Wissa - £55m a year ago, an underwhelming debut season and already some genuine exit chatter. If Wissa is sold, Osula would become one of the best value picks in the draft.

Wöltemade is a strange one to judge. Thankfully he remains categorised as a forward, but as we saw towards the back-end of last season (and for Germany) he was being deployed more as an out and out number 10. It does seem to suit him well enough, but we shouldn't forget he was brought in to try and fill the void Isak left. The concern for draft managers is his output practically halved in the second half of last season, with points per game and NPxGI taking a considerable hit. Not one you want as your FWD1!

The board

If Bruno G stays he's the standout - a proper defcon merchant with tackle and recovery volume all day long, goal involvements and enormous minutes. I just can't rank him with full confidence until the Arsenal noise dies down. Schär offers some free-kicks, set-piece goals and defcons when he plays, but the years are catching up. Thiaw logged big minutes for his 126 points - a good stock Newcastle defender. Barnes should theoretically inherit Gordon's wing, except the club has just spent £40m on Touré, who is also naturally a left-winger. Meanwhile Pope was an average fantasy keeper who now has a young rival in Jaouen, a goalkeeping situation I'll be avoiding on draft day.

The opening run

A rough start: Liverpool at home in the week 1 heavyweight fixture, Spurs away, then Bournemouth at home, Leeds away, Hull at home, Coventry away. I think we will have to watch and wait, with a view to bringing in some stock around GW3 with a bit more info to hand.

Early verdict

My guess right now is another tricky season for Newcastle with Howe out the door before Christmas. Osula has enough going for him to be a reasonable draft day punt. Wöltemade and Wissa too, but the rest are watch and wait for now.

Stay shook,

Draft FC Mitch

Where our full rankings live

As I said, these previews are just some of my notes and early thoughts, my complete top 240 rankings live within our members area. The Top 20 reveal stays free so keep your eyes peeled for that episode in early August. The rest though, plus all our other member benefits, sit inside a Draft FC membership and if you want to find out more about that, head here.

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