Callum Wilson to leave Newcastle after five seasons at the club
The Athletic reported in May that Newcastle had opted against taking the up the option to extend Wilson's contract, which officially expired at the end of June, and were in talks about a new deal that would have been slightly more incentive-based.
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Wilson joined Newcastle from Bournemouth — where he played under current Newcastle manager Eddie Howe — in the summer of 2020 and scored 49 goals across in 130 appearances for the club.
'It's time to say goodbye after an unbelievable few years in the Toon,' Wilson said on social media. 'Thank you for everything. We stood strong together through the highs and some lows to help the club experience new heights.
'I am so proud to have worn the iconic number 9 shirt and to have added a little more history to it. Scoring at the Gallowgate end really is as special as they say.
'All good things come to an end but there's no doubt Newcastle United will always have a place in mine and my families hearts.'
Callum Wilson has confirmed he will depart Newcastle United after five seasons at the club. From scoring on his debut against West Ham in 2020 to wearing the iconic number 9 shirt, Callum has played a huge part in our success in recent years and we thank him for all his… pic.twitter.com/we96dqzxB5
— Newcastle United (@NUFC) July 7, 2025
The striker scored a career-best 18 Premier League goals in the 2022-23 campaign but his past two seasons have been disrupted by injury, and he largely played a secondary role to top scorer Alexander Isak.
Wilson missed Newcastle's first 15 matches of the season due to a back injury sustained in July. He appeared in four Premier League games before sustaining a hamstring injury in early December that ruled him out for almost two months. The nine-time England international finished the season with just one goal — against Birmingham City in the FA Cup — in 22 appearances in all competitions.
He appeared visibly emotional after Newcastle's loss to Everton at St James' Park on the final day of the season, having come on as a substitute in the second half.
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'Callum is and has been just an incredible footballer for Newcastle,' Howe said after the Everton game. 'Someone who epitomises the spirit that's got us to where we are.
'He is really professional and brave. I mean to come here and be the No 9 in the manner and the moment that he did in the club's history, it was a difficult moment, the club needed hope and Callum gave them hope and led the line with the responsibility and the pressure that that role brings unbelievably well.'
This has been telegraphed since the back end of 2024, when the soundings from Newcastle were that they would wait until the end of the season to determine whether to enact the extension clause in Wilson's deal, and it feels like the right decision.
At 33, Wilson's persistent injury problems have been worsening and he failed to score a Premier League goal last season, making just two top-flight starts.
But recency bias should not taint supporters' memories of Wilson. Alexander Isak may have progressed to world-class levels over the past 18 months but, for his first three-and-a-half years on Tyneside, Wilson was prolific and he deservedly inherited the iconic No 9 shirt from Joelinton in 2021.
Although it feels like a natural conclusion to Wilson's time on Tyneside, the reason why an incentivised deal was offered was because replacing the England international will be tricky. Newcastle have explored trying to sign a versatile forward in his place but missed out on Joao Pedro to Chelsea, while few strikers fancy competing with Isak for a starting spot.
What Newcastle really need is to sign a player equivalent to the Wilson they acquired from Bournemouth in 2020, but that feels borderline impossible, especially given present market value of strikers.
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