Inside Newcastle’s January plans – and why they’re setting aside £200m ...Middle East

Newcastle United’s owner, the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), has sanctioned a £15m spend in January.

Before fans start to fret about what sort of defender you can buy for that, The i Paper can reveal that is the up-front price the club will pay to buy a plot of land in Woolsington, near Newcastle airport, to finally realise the dream of building a sprawling, world-class training facility.

That substantial cash injection to kick-start the process of constructing a new, elite training base – which will be formally announced soon alongside impressive renders of a site that will include, among other things, hotel accommodation and a mini-stadium – is the first tangible sign of PIF’s long-term grand ambition. The club may commit more than £200m to the project in total.

Off-field progress is being made

As Newcastle dust themselves down from a sobering Carabao Cup defeat to Manchester City on Tuesday, it feels significant. Eddie Howe’s team are one of only four still fighting for four trophies (just about) but their impressive progress on the pitch has not been matched off the field.

That feels as if it is about to change. The i Paper can reveal that alongside the major development on the training ground four new senior executive appointments are close, with further interviews carried out this week for a chief strategy officer, a chief revenue officer, a chief marketing officer and a new head of people.

Newcastle’s 2030 plan has been signed off by PIF and while stadium developments will not come before spades in the ground on the training ground project, there is a new sense of energy at the club.

Perhaps that sounds jarring when the team has been inconsistent and fans are increasingly questioning recruitment during a very difficult summer. Clearly new signings are needed – and are being looked at with more urgency this week – but there’s a determination not to panic at any setbacks inflicted on them during the punishing run of fixtures they have this month.

“The club has a 2030 plan, not a March 2026 plan,” one senior source said, summing up the club’s over-arching philosophy.

Player signings being actively sought

On recruitment, The i Paper has been told that Newcastle are stepping up efforts to secure defensive reinforcements to help Howe during a challenging period of the season. There is an aspiration that the signing of a right-sided centre-back – “a long-term solution, not a panic, short-term call”, according to insiders – can be brought forward.

Money is not a problem. Football finance sources, including one who works closely with Premier League clubs, estimate they have around £75m of headroom regarding profitability and sustainability rules after the Alexander Isak sale.

With amortisation they could invest around £130m before 30 June and remain compliant – but even with injuries hitting them hard the club are talking about the bigger picture.

That is signing players in the 19- to 24-year-old bracket and casting the net further than they did in the summer. There is admiration among some scouts for Bournemouth centre-back James Hill, for example, but more realistic targets are based overseas. Tolouse defender Dayann Methalie is a definite option but things may not get moving on the France under-21 international until towards the end of the month.

Atalanta centre-back Giorgio Scalvini, despite interest from the 22-year-old in a move to Newcastle, is not understood to be an option for January.

One source described them as being in “something of a holding pattern” at the moment. Dan Burn is due back very shortly, providing cover at left-back as well as centre-back, and they retain the option of recalling Matt Targett from his loan at Middlesbrough.

Ideally Newcastle would like to leave Targett on Teesside, which is favoured by the player, but they negotiated an extension to their recall option on Monday.

They can now bring him back at any point in January – giving them an emergency button to prod if the right options don’t emerge this month.

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There is a need for calm heads. While no one is writing off the players signed in the summer, few have hit the ground running.

A general rule of thumb in recruitment circles is that you want new signings to play more than 50 per cent of available minutes across their first two seasons. Three of Newcastle’s – Yoane Wissa, Jacob Ramsey and Anthony Elanga – are below 40 per cent, with injuries and lack of form contributing. Nick Woltemade has not scored in more than five hours of football.

Off the field the questions are slowly being answered. Finding short-term solutions on it does not feel quite as easy.

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