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