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Newcastle United summer transfer window budget made public

3 years ago
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Nothing has been spent so far from the 2021 Newcastle United summer transfer window budget.

On Wednesday afternoon we may well have discovered why.

With The Mail revealing that their information is that the entire budget for this transfer window is £10m.

The newspaper stating that they have been informed that despite Mike Ashley having limited the NUFC recruitment budget to such a small sum, they are trying to bring in two midfielders and a left-sided central defender before the Newcastle United summer transfer window ends.

It is now eight weeks since the 2020/21 Premier League season ended, with now only four weeks until the next (2021/22) campaign kicks off.

Not a single signing made by Newcastle United so far, not a great position.

Earlier this week, Steve Bruce gave his first interview since last season ended.

The NUFC Head Coach asked what he is looking to achieve at this week’s training camp near York and what’s most important: ‘Well of course, I mean if for example you ever got a few new players, or whatever, of course it is a great way to integrate them into the squad…’

Quite bizarre, Steve Bruce choosing to ignore the reality and seemingly instead choosing to daydream about what should have happened / be happening, if under Mike Ashley, Newcastle United operated as a normal club.

It is not unusual for Newcastle to be so ‘quiet’ in the transfer market, Rafa Benitez repeatedly pointed out how crazy it was that he was setting up deals for first choice targets who could be signed as soon as a transfer window opened, only for Mike Ashley to repeatedly refuse to allow these signings to happen.

Ahead of the January 2021 transfer window, The Telegraph ran an exclusive saying that Mike Ashley had refused to allow any budget at all for buying a single player. The only signing made, right at the end of that transfer window, the loan deal for Joe Willock which worked out very fortuitously, a midfielder who had scored only one goal in 40 Premier League appearances for Arsenal, suddenly scoring eight in 14 for Newcastle United. That kind of luck doesn’t striker very often, especially when Joe Willock scored his eight goals from only 17 shots / chances.

The Mail give extra info, saying that with only the £10m to play with, it is expected that ‘all’ of that cash will be spent on one player, with the hope of getting the other two on loan deals.

This has increasingly become the Mike Ashley plan as he tries to crawl season to season without suffering relegation, since Steve Bruce replaced Rafa Benitez, there have been 14 players signed by Newcastle United and nine of the deals have been loans or free transfers.

The minimal budget does of course explain why the constantly reported NUFC interest in central defender Kristoffer Ajer swiftly came to an end, when instead of the £8m Newcastle were reportedly willing to pay was shown to be derisory, two other clubs knocked back with bids of more than £10m, Celtic seeing the defender’s value at nearer £20m. Same with Joe Willock, a player who had such a staggering impact on Newcastle United’s end of season (NUFC picking up 17 of their 45 points in games where Joe Willock scored his eight goals), yet Mike Ashley refusing to allow a bid to go in to try and buy the goalscoring midfielder. There are claims of Joe Willock potentially coming back to NUFC on another loan but very difficult to believe Arsenal will take that option with rival Premier League clubs more than prepared to spend decent money on a young English goalscoring midfielder.

Nothing’s impossible but difficult to see Newcastle United in a month’s time having two new central midfielders and a left sided centre-back all fully integrated into the NUFC squad and the team perfectly prepared and ready for the new season.

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