Newcastle United midfielder Matt Ritchie is one of the club's longest serving players. 

Since moving to St. James' Park in summer 2016, the Scotland international has gone on to make 159 appearances for the Magpies. 

However, injuries and the lack of a clear role in the starting XI has seen his influence wain over the last 18 months or so, with Ritchie only making 20 Premier League starts since the beginning of 2019/20. 

According to The Athletic's Chris Waugh, Ritchie's future "remains uncertain" with Monday's transfer deadline looming and he could return to former club Bournemouth. 

Waugh scribed in The Athletic's realtime feed: "Matt Ritchie's #NUFC future remains uncertain, with a return to #AFCB once again being discussed". 

"No agreement is yet in place and his potential exit may depend on #NUFC signing players."

Waugh also shared comments from Bournemouth manager Jason Tindell, who tellingly described Ritchie as a "fantastic player", while insisting it would be wrong for him to discuss players employed by other clubs. 

Waugh's update follows recent reports from The Sun suggesting Ritchie could be used in a swap deal to sign The Cherries' Phillip Billing, although The Athletic's Newcastle correspondent didn't mention such a scenario himself.

GIVEMESPORT's Christy Malyan says... 

While it has been suggested Ritchie could be allowed to leave to trim the wage bill, this would still be a strange exit considering where Newcastle are in the Premier League table right now, not to mention the fact they've gone eleven games without a win across all competitions - including nine defeats. 

Ritchie is probably beyond his best at 31 but he's still an experienced Premier League player with over 100 appearances in the competition under his belt, he can play in defence or midfield and he's clearly got some influence in the dressing room having worn the armband on a couple of occasions before.

He doesn't strike as the kind of player a club in a precarious position would want to lose mid-season, and while Waugh has suggested Newcastle could bring new signings in, that feels like a much bigger gamble than simply holding onto a Premier League proven player for the remainder of the campaign. 

That is, of course, unless Newcastle have someone truly special lined up - but there isn't a great deal of chatter suggesting as such ahead of Monday's transfer deadline.