Entire Newcastle United budget spent up and squad full, so no more signings – Report
Maybe not the news Newcastle United fans were hoping for on Monday morning with only eight days until the 2021 summer transfer window closes.
Newcastle United starting the season so poorly, losing both games and conceding six goals, only two proper efforts on goal in over three hours of football.
So many areas of the NUFC squad looking in desperate need of strengthening.
Yet a new report from The Telegraph has warned Newcastle United fans not to expect any more signings in this transfer window.
Steve Bruce’s close friend Luke Edwards, stating that the entire budget allowed to Steve Bruce has been spent on Joe Willock, meaning no money available for any other signings. Newcastle paying an initial £22m for Joe Willock but that offset by £6m+ they will now receive after Adam Armstrong’s move to Southampton triggered a 40% bonus clause in NUFC’s favour.
In addition, you also have to factor in that since the last previous first team signing, Jamal Lewis on 8 September 2020, these past 12 months have seen the following 10 Newcastle United players also removed from the NUFC wage bill:
Dan Barlaser, Rolando Aarons, DeAndre Yedlin, Achraf Lazaar, Christian Atsu, Andy Carroll, Henri Saivet, Florian Lejeune, Elias Sorensen and Yoshinori Muto.
At a conservative guess I would say that these lot must have meant around £200,000 a week (£10m per year) has been knocked off the Newcastle wage bill. At the other extreme, I think £300,000 a week (£15m a year) is the highest possible in terms of reduction of the wage bill. On top of these, a host of younger players have also left the club this past 11 or 12 months.
The man from The Telegraph also points out that the Newcastle United 25 man Premier League squad looks to be full now, with Steve Bruce at the weekend apparently making clear he will be naming four goalkeepers in it, due to Karl Darlow and Martin Dubravka both set to be unavailable for some time.
Steve Bruce had confidently promised the arrival of three or four quality new signings ahead of this transfer window opening, yet Luke Edwards states that this is now very very unlikely (impossible) and says that only if ‘something attractive’ comes up in the loan market, there might be a small chance of another incoming player.
The massive problem there is that when it comes to loans from other Premier League clubs, the most attractive loan deals come with a sizeable loan fee to be paid on top of wages and Mike Ashley has repeatedly refused to pay those loan fees. Net result is that the major outgoing loan deals have seen those players go elsewhere, there was no competition to sign Joe Willock in January with the midfielder having scored only one goal in forty Premier League appearances for Arsenal, Steve Bruce signing him right at the end of that January transfer window as a last gasp token signing, yet getting ridiculously lucky when Willock produced an eight goal return, despite Bruce only starting him in 11 of the final 17 PL games after he signed on loan.
Despite his friendship with Steve Bruce, The Telegraph’s Luke Edwards having to admit that ‘effectively they’ve not improved squad from end of last season.’
This lack of investment in the Newcastle United squad coincides with over £1billion already spent by the other 19 Premier League clubs on some 80+ signings (see below).
Premier League clubs signings agreed so far in 2021 summer transfer window – up to Monday 23 August 2021:
Arsenal
Aaron Ramsdale – £24m from Sheffield United
Martin Odegaard – £30m from Real Madrid
Ben White – £50m from Brighton
Nuno Tavares – £8m from Benfica
Albert Sambi Lokonga – £15m from Anderlecht
Aston Villa
Danny Ings – £30m from Southampton
Axel Tuanzebe – Loan from Man Utd
Leon Bailey – £30m from Bayer Leverkusen
Emiliano Buendia – £33m from Norwich
Ashley Young – Free from Inter Milan
Brentford
Yoane Wissa – £9m from Lorient
Alvaro Fernandez – loan from Huesca
Frank Onyeka – £10m from Midtjylland
Myles Peart-Harris – Undisclosed fee from Chelsea
Kristoffer Ajer – £13.5m from Celtic
Brighton
Enoch Mwepu – £22m from RB Salzburg
Kaoru Mitoma – Undisclosed from Kawasaki Frontale
Kjell Scherpen – Undisclosed from Ajax
Burnley
Nathan Collins – £12m from Stoke
Wayne Hennessey – Free transfer from Crystal Palace
Chelsea
Romelu Lukaku – £97.5m from Inter Milan
Marcus Bettinelli – Free transfer from Fulham
Crystal Palace
Joachim Andersen – Eventual fee could reach £18m from Lyon
Marc Guehi – Eventual fee could reach £20m from Chelsea
Michael Olise – £8m from Reading
Jacob Montes – Undisclosed fee from Georgetown University
Remi Matthews – Free transfer from Sunderland
Conor Gallagher – Loan from Chelsea
Everton
Demarai Gray – £1.7m from Bayer Leverkusen
Andros Townsend – Free transfer from Crystal Palace
Asmir Begovic – Free transfer from Bournemouth
Leeds
Junior Firpo – £13m from Barcelona
Kristoffer Klaesson – Undisclosed from Valerenga
Amari Miller – Undisclosed fee from Birmingham City
Jack Harrison – £11m from Man City
Leicester
Jannik Verstergaard – £15m from Southampton
Patson Daka – £22m from Red Bull Salzburg
Boubakary Soumare – £17m from Lille
Ryan Bertrand – Free transfer from Southampton
Liverpool
Ibrahima Konate – £36m from Leipzig
Man City
Jack Grealish – £100m from Aston Villa
Scott Carson – Free from Derby County
Man Utd
Raphael Varane – £34m from Real Madrid
Jadon Sancho – £73m from Borussia Dortmund
Tom Heaton – Free from Aston Villa
Newcastle United
Joe Willock – Eventual £25m from Arsenal
Norwich
Christos Tzolis – £9m from PAOK
Josh Sargent – £9m from Werder Bremen
Pierre Lees-Melou – £3.5m from Nice
Billy Gilmour – Loan from Chelsea
Ben Gibson – £9m from Burnley
Dimitrios Giannoulis – £6m from PAOK Salonika
Angus Gunn – £5m from Southampton
Milot Rashica – £11m from Werder Bremen
Southampton
Adam Armstrong – £15m+ from Blackburn
Armando Broja – Loan from Chelsea
Romain Perraud – £12m from Stade Brest
Tino Livramento – Undisclosed from Chelsea
Theo Walcott – Free transfer from Everton
Tottenham
Cristian Romero – £42m from Atalanta
Bryan Gil – £21m from Sevilla
Pierluigi Gollini – Loan with option to buy for £13m from Atalanta
Watford
Ozan Tufan – Loan with option to buy from Fenerbahce
Juraj Kucka – Undisclosed from Parma
Imran Louza – £9m from FC Nantes
Ashley Fletcher – Free transfer from Middlesbrough
Danny Rose – Free transfer from Tottenham
Emmanuel Dennis – Undisclosed from Club Brugge
Peter Etebo – Loan from Stoke
Joshua King – Free from Everton
Dapo Mebude – Free from Rangers
West Ham
Alophonse Areola – Loan from PSG
Craig Dawson – Undisclosed fee from Watford
Pierre Ekwah Elimby – Undisclosed fee from Chelsea
Wolves
Rayan Ait-Nouri – Undisclosed fee from Angers
Jose Sa – Undisclosed fee from Olympiakos
Bendeguz – Undisclosed fee from Fehervar
Francisco Trincao – Loan from Barcelona with £25m option to buy
Yerson Mosquera – Undisclosed fee from Atletico Nacional
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