Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe has spoken to the media to clear up any confusion surrounding the club’s financial situation, PSR and where the ‘Marc Guehi money’ is.
The Magpies have been in incredible form for the last few months and in turn, have completely changed the trajectory of their season after a slow start in the Premier League.
Newcastle knocked Chelsea out of the top four following their victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers earlier this week, and are just one game away from a spot in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley after beating Arsenal 2-0 in the first leg of the semi-final at the Emirates.
Eddie Howe has had a massive weight lifted off his shoulders thanks to the outstanding striker performances from Alexander Isak, incredible chemistry between the midfield trio of Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton, and the strong development of Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento in the full-back roles.
The recent return of Sven Botman has also been a great boost to the defensive set-up, although Dan Burn, Fabian Schar and Martin Dubravka have all equally earned their plaudits in the last two months.
The future is looking brighter than ever on Tyneside, but with every blue sky there is always a black cloud looming somewhere and for the Magpies, it is their transfer market activity and battle with PSR restrictions.
For every fantastic performance and win chalked up, there remains an element of concern about how long the team can keep their momentum going without adding new additions to the squad for quality, depth and consistency throughout.
Paul Mitchell was appointed the new sporting director last summer and his first window overseeing the recruitment did not go well with a publicly played-out battle to sign Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi, in which Newcastle went as high as £65m to convince the South London club to part ways.
The transfer did not materialise and the Geordies did not have any other targets in the pipeline to get a deal done before the window closed, which later led to widespread frustration when positive results were few and far between in the opening weeks of the season.
The January transfer window was seen as an opportunity for the club to not only acquire the players needed in priority positions but to offload players who have become surplus to requirements in an attempt to boost funds.
However, we are entering the third week of the new year and although there is noise of outgoings with Miguel Almiron and Martin Dubravka mooted for moves away, no business has been completed at this time.
The Newcastle boss was in attendance with the media today for his pre-match press conference ahead of the clash with AFC Bournemouth tomorrow, and was grilled by a representative of The Shields Gazette about PSR, transfer decisions and where the money offered for Guehi is:
-“Yeah, I mean, I’m not going to sit here and explain PSR, because I don’t even understand all of it,”
“But it’s not as clear as everyone will make out, there’s not a pot of money there waiting to be spent, it’s all about the 30th June and making sure you comply by that date.”
“Obviously, if you spend money, then you have to recoup it at a later date, so that doesn’t explain anything, does it? But in my head it does.”
“When you’re armed with the whole picture it can look very different,” Howe added.
“We have to make decisions together. And that’s the key thing, it’s not one person dictating to me, ‘That’s what we’re going to do’.
“There might come a time when that might have to be the case if I disagree strongly enough on something. But I’ve then got to give a logical response as to what the solution is, if I say that.”
“We have to work together to make the right decisions, for the here and now and the future. We will try to do that together and that’s the best way, with teamwork and consultation.”
Will Newcastle sign players in January?
Before their complete transformation in form over the last eight weeks, it seemed inconceivable that Newcastle would not be major players in the transfer window when it reopened at the start 2025.
However, with Botman back from injury, a great connection between the players in the current team and no major fitness issues to starters to worry about at present, the likelihood that the Magpies would go head first into signing new players has decreased massively.
Indeed, there could be opportunities to sign a right winger if Almiron does move on to a new adventure in the coming weeks, but with the financial implications remaining an obvious concern, the club will not want to rush into making a move unless the player was perfect for their attacking threat.
With that being said, it will still be an interesting few weeks for the Tynesiders as they navigate the best decisions to make on Almiron and Dubravka’s futures at the club and whether they will pursue a chance to sign a player in the dying days of the window.
