Transfer summer at Newcastle United: “Have to spend a certain amount”

Club “massively above expectations”

For the first time since the 2012/13 season, Newcastle United secured participation in international business again at the beginning of the week and will start the coming season for the second time in this millennium after 2002/03 in the Champions League. Coach Eddie Howe, who described this as “an amazing achievement” on Monday, now announced that his side have “exceeded expectations” this season and announced reinforcements in the summer transfer window.

With the seventh most valuable squad in the Premier League, the “Magpies” made the “premium class” perfect on the penultimate match day with a goalless draw against Leicester City. Since Matchday 12, the team with the sixth-highest transfer spend in the English House of Lords had previously established itself in the top four in the league. In retrospect, his team “greatly exceeded expectations”, the 45-year-old confirmed at a press conference before the upcoming end of the season at Chelsea. In the run-up to the season, the goals of the club, which was taken over by a consortium around Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund in autumn 2021 and has invested more than 300 million euros in newcomers in the past two seasons, were by no means so ambitious.

The sporting success should now also be followed by a corresponding procedure on the transfer market in order to be able to survive on the big European stage next season. At the national level, however, the “big challenge” is to reconfirm the performance. As of now, there are no new arrivals or departures from Newcastle for 2023/24. Five contracts on Tyneside expire on June 30. In the past few months, the “Magpies” have repeatedly been associated with big names, not least because of their financial clout, including those of Sadio Mané (FC Bayern ), Moussa Diaby (Bayer 04) or Dominik Szoboszlai (RB Leipzig).

“Unfortunately, players don’t come cheap, especially good players. Yes, we have to spend a certain amount. I don’t know how much that is. I don’t know what my budget is at this point, but there will have to be some expenses,” said Howe, who emphasized that all measures must be taken with a view to the financial fair play regulations. When asked if he would prioritize Premier League/UK players when recruiting new staff, the coach said:

“Yes, there would certainly be players that we would like to bring in and who would fall into this category.” But it is more important to him that the newcomers fit the roles required in the squad. “I don’t think, ‘We have to have one of these players who is just right for the fans.’ As much as I’d love to do that, it’s about finding the right player in the right position that I think makes us better.”

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