Eddie Howe reveals which former Newcastle star he believes will definitely play for England as he admits frustration over departure

Eddie Howe is convinced Elliot Anderson will play for England and admits his departure remains a source of huge frustration.

Newcastle were forced to sell their academy graduate to Nottingham Forest in June as they battled to avoid breaching Profit and Sustainability Rules. The £35million fee was offset by a £20m deal for goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos, who moved in the opposite direction.

Anderson, 22, has shone for third-placed Forest this season and comes up against his boyhood club at the City Ground this week.

And Howe, who has seen Anthony Gordon, Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall win elevation to the senior England squad this year, believes Anderson has what it takes to join them.

‘Without a shadow of a doubt (he will play for England), in my opinion,’ said Howe. ‘I remember having many conversations with Elliot about his international future, because that was slightly up in the air (he was also eligible for Scotland). For me, he should set his dreams and his aims very high, because it was obvious he had the ability to get to wherever he wanted to go. England is a big aim for him and I see that in his future, definitely.’

Of his sale, Howe added: ‘Elliot is a sale we didn’t want to make. Nobody wanted to make that sale, but we had to. It’s an unusual place because I think that will be happening again, not just here but at other clubs, selling players for financial reasons.’

He added: ‘I don’t understand the rationale (of PSR in terms of selling academy players). I don’t understand why we’re in a position to incentivise selling academy products. I don’t necessarily think they started with that intention of forcing teams to make those decisions.

‘So for us to put all the work into Elliot, the academy, the coaches, the time, to then see him leave and flourish for another Premier League club is something that we feel we should be in a position to do. You should be able to sell players and have the same effect it did with Elliot. But of course we got the full profit from the sale, and that’s why we decided to sell him.’

Newcastle have won their last two games, home victories over Chelsea in the Carabao Cup and Arsenal in the Premier League.

However, they have won just once on the road this season, and Howe said: ‘Our away performances have been a slightly mixed bag, so the consistency hasn’t been absolutely what we want it to be. The Fulham game (3-1 defeat) is a standout negative for me, where we didn’t perform at any level.

Howe admitted he remains frustrated over the sale of Elliot Anderson to Nottingham Forest

Anderson, who previously played for Scotland at youth level, is now in the England Under-21 squad

‘The other games we’ve seen really good bits within the games and then some inconsistent moments within the same game. And to win on the road, you have to have that solidity and that energy and everything that we always speak about in terms of our best performances, we need to see it there right from minute one, especially against the teams that are in form and doing well.

‘We’re searching for that and there’s a lot that goes into it. We’re looking to get the right balance in the team. Certainly in previous seasons we’ve done that, in the Champions League season I think we found a formula where we were the same team regardless of where we played, we had the same characteristics and we really need to discover that quickly this season in order to have the season that we want.’