Chelsea’s American owner Todd Boehly made headlines recently with his alleged plans to overhaul the club’s contract policy in favour of tieing top talent to much longer deals. Contracts lasting seven years or longer are common in US Major League sports but are relatively rare in the Premier League.
For most Toon fans, the words ‘eight-year’ contract are likely to trigger a breakdown of some description as repressed memories of a certain deal struck between the club and Alan Pardew (plus his three senior coaching staff) are resurfaced.
Boehly might just have found some inspiration for his contract revolution at St James’, not from that Pardew deal, but from the currency playing squad: Many of Eddie Howe’s first teamers are locked down with long contracts. That includes Joelinton, Allan Saint-Maximin, Sven Botman, Joe Willock and Jacob Murphy who all signed six-year deals.
Longer contracts are as much a bet on the future potential of a player as they are a reflection of current ability and, for a club in Newcastle’s position, longer contracts for the right players (more on that below) do make a lot of sense.
From the player’s perspective, these contracts provide the security of guaranteed income and stability: While some fans and pundits will always insist that players on long deals are happy to dial down the effort, it’s also true in any line of work that output is better when ‘off-pitch’ issues are resolved or at least reduced.
From the club’s perspective, the longer contracts are justifiable for several reasons. First, by securing key players to these types of deals, the club is ensuring that any competitor who wants to poach them is going to have to pay through the nose to do so.
That’s important because despite the bottomless pockets of the new owners, Newcastle are – for the short term at least – likely to be focusing more on prospects than proven pedigree in the transfer market.
Second, Longer contracts make it more difficult for players who are still in their prime to leave the club without a transfer fee. Arsene Wenger was among those to highlight the growing trend of stars running down their contracts way back in 2017, with players often securing huge wages and even bigger signing bonuses at new clubs in the process.
Third, players may be minded to settle for a lower weekly wage for security of a longer contract. That’s far more sustainable from the club’s perspective as, if the bet on potential doesn’t turn out to be a winning one, the club is less exposed to paying a fortune in wages to players who no longer contribute.
Finally, no UK betting apps are pricing United anywhere near favourites for relegation this season, so there’s little risk of Premier League flops burning big FFP-shaped holes in the club’s pockets.
It’s crucial, though, that such deals are only dished out to the right players. The reports on Boehly’s about-turn at Chelsea suggested that only players under the age of 25 would be eligible for contracts of seven or more years. That would be a sensible rule of thumb at Newcastle United, too.
The players also obviously have to have the potential to justify the contract. Elliot Anderson, for example, looks like a prime candidate to be rewarded if he can prove himself to Eddie Howe and his staff in training and potentially in first team action this season.