9 Newcastle Players Who Are Fighting For Their Toon Futures

6) Mike Williamson

The centre back had a torrid time last season and, in a recent poll run by the Chronicle, only 10% of voters wanted Newcastle to retain the 6ft 4in defender, the lowest amongst all players. Never blessed with pace, Williamson looked lost at spells last season and his aimless distribution has also drawn the ire of the Newcastle faithful. While John Carver's comments claiming that he looked to deliberately get himself sent off in the 3-0 defeat to Leicester City seem harsh, it highlighted the lack of intelligence that enters his play at times, despite his willingness to do the defensive dirty work. Jamaal Lascelles is expected to join up with the first-team squad after a year on loan at his former club, Nottingham Forest, while Steven Taylor and Fabricio Coloccini are already in place. With the general belief is also that the Geordies are looking for another centre-half this summer so the odds of seeing Williamson during the 2015-16 season are shorter than they have been for the last two years. Current likelihood of coming back: 2/10Recommendation: A limited defender at the Premier League level, Williamson needs to find the form that led some fans to call 'Mike Brazilian-son' in 2013-14, providing strong support to his partner in the air and staying mental alert, both at set-pieces and in terms of tracking opposition forwards. At 31 years of age, it might be too much to expect the ex-Portsmouth man to improve his passing too much but looking for the midfield rather than going long would certainly help get fans on side again. Despite his effort, he was the poorest performer of last season's centre-back options. Williamson has been linked away from the club this transfer window and with the club looking at Joel Matip and others, the odds are that he will be allowed a move to a Championship side if Newcastle can get a man they want across the line. If Williamson does get minutes at St James' Park next season, it will likely be putting him in the window for a move next summer.