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Anthony Gordon will be “welcomed back with three arms” by Eddie Howe after having his head turned by Liverpool.

The Anfield giants are interested in pinching the £60m-rated England winger from Newcastle United this summer. A deal was briefly explored at the end of June as the Geordies scrambled to raise £65m of cash to avoid falling foul of Premier League Profit and Sustainability Rules and receiving a points deduction next season.

Howe has warned the emergency sell-off situation must “never happen again” and says the rules “forced Newcastle to do things we didn’t want to do…” Gordon was one of several big names Newcastle feared losing, including Alexander Isak, as panic ensued in the boardroom with just 48 hours to plug their financial hole.

But they avoided losing any of their blue chip stars by selling youngsters Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh for more than £60m. Scouser Gordon was believed to be interested in a switch to Champions League-bound Liverpool, and the drama unfolded while he was on England Euros duty and frustrated by his lack of tournament game time.

Howe admits the PSR scramble can’t be allowed to unfold again, potentially destabilising his players, and is adamant that a line has been drawn under the possibility of Gordon’s exit. Asked if he will be settled when he returns to Tyneside after his two-week break following the Euros, Howe said: “I welcome him back with three arms if I had them!

“He’s such an important player for us, we didn’t want to lose anybody. Why would we want to lose our best players? We fought really hard to make the right decisions.

"In those last few weeks it was very, very difficult. He’s an integral part of what we’re doing. He needs a bit of a break. By the time he comes back he’s ready to go.”

Eddie Howe does not want Newcastle to end up in the same position with their big-name stars ( Serena Taylor/Getty Images)

Gordon has had a remarkable year, helping England U21s to the Euro title just over 12 months ago. He became a major player for Howe with 12 goals and 10 assists - equal third best in the top flight - during a total of 48 club appearances.

He was arguably player of the year as the Toon claimed seventh spot and narrowly missed out on Europe. Gordon, after 12 months of continuous football, will get a break before Newcastle go to Japan next week for a two game tour, as will Bruno Guimaraes who has been with Brazil on Copa America duty.

Howe confirmed: “They’ll be back at certain times. It is important for players like Bruno, Anthony and Kieran (Trippier) that they do get some time away.

"The biggest danger for them is you bring them back too early and there’s no freshness to them and that can really damage their season so we have to get that right. But we have a game looming very large against Southampton that we have to get them ready for as well so it’s a very delicate balance.”

"He needs a bit of a break, he’s a had a really long season and the Euros will have been emotional for him as well. I’m confident he is ok. You can only judge Anthony on what he has given Newcastle on the pitch.

"He’s been committed. We’ve had no conversations over the summer where it has been fractious or negative. He’s always been the Anthony Gordon who has given absolutely everything to Newcastle and I want to make that clear to all our supporters."

Paul Mitchell is Newcastle's new sporting director

Newcastle chiefs have brought in sporting director Paul Mitchell to keep an eye on the long term and avoid the behind-the-scenes chaos of their PSR scramble. Howe has revealed his feelings over the touting of his stars admitting it was “a very difficult last couple of weeks of June.”

He added: “The rules forced us to do things we didn’t want to do. I want to make that clear we didn’t want to sell any of the players we sold. Absolutely not. Why would we want to sell any of our promising young players? Elliot’s someone we’ve invested a lot of time in and it defied the inner feeling we all had associated with the club, it felt wrong.

“We wish Elliot and Yankuba all the very best in their next football clubs. It was a really difficult time, there was a lot of uncertainty and we didn’t know what was going to happen. In the end it’s been as good as we could have hoped for in terms of us not being hit with a points deduction which was of course of paramount importance we did that. But we need to make sure we’re not in that position again.”

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