Newcastle United’s Ashworth: Our spending is ‘unsustainable’

Sports director talks about goals

Sporting director Dan Ashworth was one of Newcastle United’s top signings and suggests the road to the top will not be short. He was ripped off from Brighton & Hove Albion in February and has officially been in charge since May 30 – signing €136m in players in his first transfer stint at the wealthy Saudi Arabian-owned club. “What is clear is that this club has invested. I wasn’t here in January but in 2022 it was around £200m and that’s not sustainable,” Ashworth said.Timesquoted.

In the Transfermarkt database, the expenses of the “Magpies” in 2022 are estimated at 237 million euros, for which there were ten newcomers. Ashworth had a reputation at Brighton and before that as Director of Development at the Football Association of England for making what was there better – he aims high with Newcastle but knows it will take time. “You can’t continue to invest so consistently, we have to look around for up-and-coming talent, improve our academy and try to get the players in a different way.” After nine games and only one defeat, the traditional club is sixth in the Premier League. League table.

In the near future one can expect that high fees will be more likely to attract well-known players, but one is already looking at financial fair play. Since it is firmly assumed that they will soon be playing on the European stage, the rules of UEFA must also be followed. “Financial fair play is complicated in the sense that it applies to the length of a player’s contract, but if you sell the player you have the money straight into the account,” Ashworth said. With the FFP calculation key, transfers paid are distributed over the duration of the contract period, while transfers received can be fully offset in the current financial year – this practice, coupled with loans, loans with an obligation to buy and player swap shows, ensures that you can be creative in this system can.

Newcastle United’s Ashworth: ‘To Europe to attract top players’

“We can’t buy every player we want and pay them how much we want, we have to be creative,” Ashworth said. “It’s all about timing and making the most of the money. So no matter how rich your owners are, that applies to every club in the world, you are held back by the fact that you have to move within the framework of the FFP. ”Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain have shown just how true that is in recent years experienced.

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Newcastle transfers with feeTo overview
Despite the high level of investment, Newcastle has not yet been able to attract the really big names to St James’ Park, which is one of the 20 busiest football stadiums in the world and is regularly full. Ashworth knows why: “A lot of players only go to a club if they play in Europe. So we have to go to Europe to be attractive to the top players.”

It could still be a while before that happens: “We have no god-given right after a transfer window or two to say, ‘Zack, we should be in contention for the top four.’ But things happen in football, the club is ambitious and wants to play for trophies.” Although Ashworth, who cites Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal as role models, has the richest owners in football behind him, he hopes “that we can be agile in the transfer market will be enough and not spend £100m on a finished player”. His record transfer was ex-BVB talent Alexander Isak (23), who came from Real Sociedad for 70 million euros and still has room for improvement.

The fact that Newcastle’s transfer strategy cannot be sustainable in 2022 is because, while spending €237m, the club has only made €2.3m from player sales – a total of just 2 since summer 2020, 6 million euros. “There are different types of transfers and one of the things about FFP is that you have to transfer players. We need to be able to generate money to reinvest.” A difficult proposition, especially with Newcastle’s ambitions. The clubs at the negotiating table know that the owners’ pockets are full, so it is not unlikely that the ‘Magpies’ will have to pay above market value at times to secure their transfer target.

Ashworth says the backers understand that success in the world’s strongest and richest league can’t be bought overnight, but the goals are as clear as they are high. “As you get older you realize what you are and I really enjoy building something.”

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