Get ready for a tough season: Shearer warns Newcastle can't keep selling best players after Howe exit and star sales

Alan Shearer has warned Newcastle United to expect a 'tough season' and said the club cannot 'keep selling your best players and then hope to be in contention' in the Premier League.

Newcastle are enduring a summer of change withEddie Howe set to step down from his role as manager after five years. Howe has decided to walk away at St James' Park to take a break from football, with 38-year-old Al-Ahli head coach Matthias Jaissle set to replace him.

The Magpies have also soldAnthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali, while Bruno Guimares has informed the club that he wants to join Arsenal.

The summer has been a setback for Newcastle's aim to challenge the Premier League's top teams, with the club's project having hit a roadblock over the last 12 months.

Shearer fears Newcastle are in for a challenging campaign in 2025/26, and said the continued sales of big names is not a 'good look' for the ownership.

"What happened last summer massively hindered Newcastle, with Alexander Isak leaving and the club missing out on their main transfer targets," Shearer said to theBBC.

"Unfortunately, that trend has continued this year. I would not be surprised if it influenced Eddie's thinking about whether to stay or go, and it also makes me worry about what will happen next.

"Speaking purely as a fan, I think we have to get ready for a tough season and some very challenging times ahead.

"The timing of Eddie's exit is the biggest surprise for me - three weeks into pre-season, and with only three weeks to go until the Premier League starts again.

"I don't know exactly what has gone on behind the scenes for this to happen now but I guess, from his point of view, he was seeing his best players being sold - first Isak, then Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali this summer - and with speculation over captain Bruno Guimaraes' future too.

"He has probably thought it was a tough enough job anyway, but it is just getting tougher. You cannot keep on selling your best players and then hope to be in contention at the top of the table - I hope I'm wrong but it is probably inevitable that Bruno will be next to leave.

"Whatever Bruno's intentions were before, when Eddie was in charge, then he must look now and think well, we are selling our stars and now the manager, who he clearly had a great rapport with, has gone too."