LA MANGA — On the sun-kissed Spanish coast this week, there has been optimism as Newcastle’s key power brokers meet to talk turkey.
PIF’s Jacobo Solis and Newcastle minority owner Jamie Reuben were notable presences in La Manga for an “off-site” on Wednesday that has set the direction of travel for the last three weeks of the summer transfer window. How is it going to be? “Busy” said one senior source.
It needs to be. For all the upbeat words and “energy”, there is a lot riding on it. CEO David Hopkinson told reporters here the club is in a “moment of change” and should not shy away from admitting it. Matthias Jaissle has injected fresh energy and intensity but he needs more in the market.
A fresh push in their recruitment drive is now imminent and the budget they can work with is considerable. The i Paper reported that they could spend £150m after the Bruno Guimaraes sale and that number has been backed up out here in Spain.
Transfer fees will “not be a problem” in the markets they’re shopping in but wages are the key. Under tough squad cost ratio rules have to keep that (relatively) low to continue investing while hitting their agreed Uefa financial restrictions. It will also give them room to negotiate further contract extensions – with Lewis Hall eyeing new terms and a longer stay.
Newcastle’s transfer plans
Instead of one blockbuster deal, the budget will be divided up on “at least” three signings. They are actively working on a midfielder – the current policy is to have several “plates” spinning at the same time but with “experienced” options lined up – and a full-back.
The name is yet to emerge. Those linked but discounted include Felix Nmecha and Ruben Neves, who played for the new Newcastle boss at Al-Hilal. They like Porto’s Victor Froholdt but it’s not a deal they believe can happen this summer. Ditto Germany international Angelo Stiller.
Newcastle need another forward despite Osula’s form (Photo: Getty)Croatia midfielder Luka Sucic, who worked with Jaissle previously and plays for Real Sociedad, is an intriguing option. Newcastle wanted to end their overreliance on one player, so having a few capable of “ball progression” and allowing Lewis Miley a more attacking role is the plan.
Other positions will depend on Jaissle’s assessment of his squad. He has pored over the physical statistics from last season and is understood to be enthused that the players are fit enough to play in his favoured “high-intensity” style. It could be another full-back or a forward – the squad looks shy of goals, even if Yoane Wissa and Will Osula look sharp.
What happens next
There is no secret that they will run things right until deadline day on 1 September.
“We’re active in the market,” Wilson confirmed here in Spain.
“We’ve already strengthened the squad, we wanted to have a clear stamp on the window as to what our identity looked like, we wanted to re-energise and refresh it and we can feel it now in a big way.
“The new coach can feel it in a different way because he didn’t work with the players we had before. Of course we want to add more. The support of the guys is there as well.
“Matthias wants to assess what we have as well, which is obvious, he’s been doing that for some time now so he’s got a view on that already and we’re aligned on what we want to do. What we also don’t want to do is make any mistakes by jumping to do something that we don’t really want to do to tick a box.”
No more big sales
Newcastle insiders have rowed back the idea that they are not willing sellers in the transfer market. “Tell that to the clubs that try to deal with us,” was the verdict of one source.
While Anthony Gordon and Sandro Tonali were always leaving, Guimaraes was told – after Newcastle reluctantly granted his wish to leave – that he could do so on two conditions. The first is that there would be no repeat of the Alexander Isak wildcat strike – he had to report for training while the deal was being thrashed out.
Bruno is expected to be the last major sale (Photo: Getty)The second is that the numbers had to work. If they didn’t, Guimaraes would stay. Both parties shook on that.
That should inform the idea that Hall, Joelinton or Tino Livramento might leave. Hall is “untouchable” and will stay. Joelinton is also going nowhere despite links with the Saudi Pro League – “Perfectly happy” said one source – and Livramento is working his way back towards fitness.
Bruno deal explained
The sale of Guimaraes – which will be confirmed shortly – means most of the pain is over. And it has been a blow for the club that he actively petitioned for a move to Arsenal all summer.
“We didn’t want to sell Bruno. It wasn’t in the plan to sell Bruno,” Wilson admitted.
“None of us wanted to sell Bruno. He’s our captain, he was very, very important to us and the debate over his price – it’s a world record fee for a player of his age. What we had to weigh up was, very respectfully from Bruno with his behaviour towards us, very emotionally as well, effectively told us he wanted to leave and move on.
“That doesn’t mean he can go but it certainly plays a part in what our thinking is when we hit a certain range of number. But there’s no part in saying it was part of our strategy and was in our thinking this summer – it wasn’t.
“But we have got to be flexible and react to things that happen. It might have been in our plan to sign one player but we didn’t get him so we move on to another. We can only be honest about that.
“We’d love Bruno Guimares to be in our squad this summer but I’m sure there are other clubs that have lost players that wish they were in their squads this season. It’s the world we live in, we had to adapt, we had to react.”
Was £75ma good fee? Newcastle fans were upset that the club shook hands on that and there was an admission here that they had wanted more.
“It was not the fee that I think Arsenal had hoped to pay and of course we would have liked an even higher number,” CEO Hopkinson admitted.
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Newcastle: Inside Newcastle’s £75m plans for life after Bruno Guimaraes Mark Douglas: I feared for Newcastle – then I met Matthias Jaissle“But I think you’re dealing with sophisticated actors on both sides and that’s what negotiation looks like. It’s a fee that satisfies us. If you want a put a merchandising spin on it, it’s the highest fee for a player in that position at that age.
“Is that a good deal for Newcastle United? I believe it is. But Arsenal are getting a very special player and special person so this works from a financial perspective for both sides.”
Newcastle insist they have learned lessons from the Alexander Isak saga last summer. Giving themselves three weeks rather than three days to source their captain’s replacement at least gives them a chance.
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