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Newcastle United selling players – Journalist makes laughable claims

1 year ago
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Newcastle United now almost two weeks into the January 2023 transfer window.

The only action of even any minimal note so far, was seeing Garang Kuol formally becoming a Newcastle United player when this window opened (he actually signed his NUFC deal back in September 2022).

Then Kuol yesterday moved out quickly to Hearts on loan, to hopefully get some more decent first team experience to help his progression.

Other than that though, all quiet on the Tyneside front.

I was interested and amused to then read the following this morning, on the subject of Newcastle United potentially selling players this window.

Jacob Whitehead of The Athletic reporting from Eddie Howe’s press conference ahead of Fulham on Sunday – 13 January 2023:

Newcastle have also traditionally struggled to sell players for profit, outside of the £30million departure of Ayoze Perez to Leicester City in 2019.

Asked about potential departures, and Newcastle’s record of selling players, Howe replied: “Yeah, I mean, there’s not a huge desire in me to sell anyone this window but and then there’s always about it depends on what’s presented to you.

“So you could have an idea that you want to keep the whole group together and you get something that comes left-field that you think the club thinks is a good deal to do.

“Certainly, my intention is to try and develop what we have rather than lose anybody. I don’t think that we’re at the stage unnecessarily where we’re overloaded with numbers or overloaded with quality. I think, yeah, that’s my intention.”

I couldn’t stop laughing at one line of the above…’Newcastle have also traditionally struggled to sell players for profit, outside of the £30million departure of Ayoze Perez to Leicester City in 2019.’

Newcastle United have struggled to sell players for profit???

Mike Ashley thought of nothing else!!!

Keeping the best players and growing the club was never on the agenda.

Jacob Whitehead has only just started covering Newcastle United for The Athletic and I think George Caulkin and Chris Waugh will be needing to give him some intensive training in the NUFC history department, if he isn’t to make many more similarly embarrassing gaffes.

Here is a brief rundown of just some of Mike Ashley’s (selling ) triumphs, what NUFC (Ashley) sold each player for and in brackets what each player cost Newcastle United originally:

James Milner £12m (£3.6m)

Shay Given £8m (£2m)

Charles N’Zogbia £6m (£0.5m)

Sebastien Bassong £9m (£1m)

Andy Carroll £35m (£0)

Demba Ba £7.5m (£0)

Fraser Forster £6m (£0)

Yohan Cabaye £20m (£4.5m)

Mathieu Debuchy £12m (£6m)

Moussa Sissoko £30m (£1.5m)

Gini Wijnaldum £25m (£14m)

Aleksandar Mitrovic £25m (£14m)

Ayoze Perez £30m (£1.8m)

That lucky 13 alone, seeing Mike Ashley bank around £225m on players who only cost around £49m.

Thankfully, after 14 years as a selling club under Mike Ashley, Newcastle United now very much a club looking to retain its best players and buy even better players on top of that.

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