Newcastle United would have to pay in excess of £60m to advance any interest in Bournemouth winger Antoine Semenyo, one of the players they have a long-term interest in.
It is a price tag that highlights a problem for the club, who will endeavour to refresh a squad that Eddie Howe admits may have grown “stale” in the January transfer window despite internal admissions that profit and sustainability concerns will make it tough.
Newcastle’s clear priority is bringing in a right-sided forward after Sven Botman’s return to training eased their need to sign centre-back cover. It is an area they have failed to strengthen in the last two transfer windows but the price tags, especially for the domestic targets they have identified, are high.
Ghana winger Semenyo, who has enjoyed an outstanding start to the season, is one of the players being monitored along with Bryan Mbeumo, the Brentford winger who is moving into the final two years of his contract.
i understands there has been no contact on Semenyo, with director of football Paul Mitchell acknowledging that the club will have to be smart in their January dealings to cope with ongoing Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR) constraints. Initial recruitment meetings have also focused on possible overseas targets, including some of those under the age of 21 identified as having long-term potential.
There are two duelling off-the-field issues at Newcastle right now: those in charge acknowledge that the squad has suffered for not being added to with significant incomings in 2024 but they lack the significant PSR headroom to do that without creating problems in the summer for themselves.
With Newcastle sitting in an unsatisfactory 11th place and facing a December period that could make or break their season, it felt significant that Howe brought up the prospect of the squad becoming “stale” at his press conference previewing Wednesday’s visit of league leaders Liverpool.
“Sometimes the same squad can produce a staleness and a negative product so I think we’re aware of that,” he said.
“But it’s about what we’re able to do rather than: ‘I want’. ‘I want’ is clear. It’s what we’re able to do that is the key thing.”
The intention is to bring in players if possible but i has been told that Mitchell believes the club need to start trading more effectively to be in a position to do any big business.
Newcastle are open to offers for winger Miguel Almiron and goalkeeper Martin Dubravka but may also have to contemplate bids for players on the fringe of the first team too, such as Callum Wilson or even the likes of winger Harvey Barnes and Sean Longstaff, who is set to trigger a one-year contract extension but admitted to i last month he wants to feel more “appreciated”.
The dynamics of the January transfer window may be problematic. i spoke to one Premier League executive who said his club would not be active and predicted things would be as slow as they were 12 months ago, when lack of movement in the market created a logjam. Finding a buyer for any of their fringe players has been a major problem, with only lowball offers for the likes of Almiron in recent windows.
One possible solution is investigating potential loan with an option to buy deals. That is how they were able to broker a move for Lewis Hall in the summer of 2023 when they had reached their PSR limit.
There is no prospect of one of Newcastle’s “crown jewels” being sold in January, with Bruno Guimaraes, Anthony Gordon and Alexander Isak seen as irreplaceable in the next trading period.
Newcastle’s PSR position has become a huge bone of contention for a fanbase that has become frustrated by their inability to build on their fourth-place finish in 2023 but it continues to be a challenge for the club.
A combination of the rules and some recruitment missteps have combined to make 2024 a frustrating year in which the scale of the task faced by the club to bridge the gap to those regularly in contention for the Champions League has become clear.
The club will reveal their latest set of accounts in January and should record a healthier financial position after significant losses in each of their last two sets of financials. There is understood to be some PSR headroom to do business if they choose to but any significant deals would probably need to be partly offset by sales – either in January or the summer.
While they did make significant offers for Crystal Palace defender Marc Guehi in the last transfer window – although less than the £70m rumoured at the time – that deal would have probably left them needing to player trade to comply with PSR rules.
And Newcastle know they have to take a long-term, strategic view on recruitment because a system of anchoring and squad cost rules is set to be introduced for 2024-25 which will limit the club to spending 85 per cent of their football revenue.
The club see boosting revenue in the medium and long-term as the key to unlocking further spending and hope to unveil more significant sponsorship deals in the coming months.
A decision on the club’s stadium plans – viewed as critical to the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund’s long-term vision for the club – is due to go to the Newcastle board early in the new year.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/DCfmpd7
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