Last season Eddie Howe took over as manager of Newcastle from Steve Bruce and led the turnaround as the Magpies finished the previous season in 11th place after spending the majority of the first half of the previous campaign in the relegation zone

 

Howe is strengthening his squad in the ongoing transfer window to improve upon their league standing last season and so far they have succeeded in acquiring the services of Sven Botman, Nick Pope and Matt Targett on permanent deals.

 

 

Since Howe’s arrival at St. James Park, Newcastle have heavily recruited defensive options and Lascelles has welcomed the competition in the defensive area.

 

The Newcastle captain emphasised the value of having healthy competition in every position and emphasised the need for all the players to remain competitive in order to keep fighting for spots in the starting line-up.

 

 

“It’s healthy competition and I think that’s really important”, Lascelles was quoted saying by the Shields Gazette.

 

“Sometimes as human beings you can get complacent at times but we’ve all got to stay on our toes and keep fighting for that spot and that can only be good for individuals and as a team collectively.

 

 

“It’s important that we have that in every area, all over of the pitch, not just at centre-back.”

 

Newcastle will travel to Brighton to take on Graham Potter’s side at the Amex Stadium on 13th August it remains to be seen if Lascelles will feature in that game.