Newcastle to Trigger Clause to Keep Federico Fernandez at St James' Park Next Season

​​Newcastle fans can breathe easy, with the club set to activate a clause within the Argentine defender Federico Fernandez's contract to keep him on Tyneside.

The defender's contract was due to run out at the end of this season and he could have started negotiating with overseas teams now, six months prior to the finishing of his contract.

The Chronicle Live report that written into his current deal, Newcastle have a clause that triggers a one year extension to ensure that Fernández will be with the team going into the 2020/21 season. He is not the only Newcastle player whose contract is(/was) due to end this summer, but Steve Bruce appears largely unfazed. 

Negotiations with Fernández were made easier with the defender's openness to returning to Newcastle. The Argentine has a young daughter who was born in the city, and he made it clear that he would not be keen to uproot his family. 

The defender joined in August 2018 and has been a key member of the team this season since coming back into the team against ​Wolves in October. Illustrating his value to his manager and the squad, the defender was made captain during Newcastle's most recent FA Cup tie against Rochdale. 

Newcastle were able to gain a point this weekend through Miguel Almiron's third goal in three weeks, the Magpies grinding out a gutsy result considering their huge injury list. 

"With the problems we've got we deserved something. I don't think there's a club out there which has 12 or 13 players missing," Bruce said.

"They ran a million miles and their resilience was there for everyone to see. We lacked a bit of quality in the top end of the pitch but I couldn't fault their effort and endeavour. I thought it was going to be a repeat of when we lost four players in 12 minutes against Leicester. 

"Joe had the courage to carry on when we were down to the bare bones. It's ridiculous, I've never known anything like it in 40 years."