It looks like Newcastle United have been forced to rethink their January transfer plans following news that Joelinton is likely to miss the remainder of the season.
Speaking on the BBC’s Transfer Gossip Daily, The Telegraph’s Luke Edwards has revealed that an ’emergency transfer meeting’ looks set to take place on Tyneside, with talks scheduled ‘this week’ to determine our next steps.
Edwards reveals that a specialist has notified Newcastle that Joelinton is likely to need surgery, which would be followed by a 4-5 month period of rehabilitation. That would leave us with just THREE fit midfielders and FOUR fit attackers and it’s expected to force the clubs hands over the final two weeks of the window, despite our reluctance to spend due to FFP/PSR constraints.
As things stand, we’re refusing to meet Man City’s demands over Kalvin Phillips, which feature a £7m loan fee, hefty wages and a £40m obligation to buy this summer. That deal is not dead, it seems, but it seems we’ll be looking elsewhere if the champions don’t budge.
Here’s what Edwards said on the BBC podcast on Joelinton’s injury and the transfer shift set to follow:
Does Joelinton's injury force Newcastle to do something in the January transfer window?@LukeEdwardsTele believes so!#BBCFootball pic.twitter.com/D3sYqWxCDK
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) January 16, 2024
“Joelinton looks like he’ll be out for the season now. So Newcastle are down to three senior fit midfielders. They have three-four fit forwards.
“Newcastle are waiting to determine whether he definitely needs surgery, but the feedback they’ve had from the specialist is he will need surgery. Then four to five months of rehabilitation afterwards.
“This has got to change Newcastle’s transfer plans. 11 players missing, 12 with Sandro Tonali out. You can’t have no midfielders and no forwards on your bench and hope to go for the rest of the season.
“The players they’ve got coming back are Joe Willock who hasn’t really played since April. Harvey Barnes hasn’t kicked a ball since September. You can’t rely on those players to come straight back in.
“I think there’s going to be some emergency transfer meetings at Newcastle. I’m led to believe that there are going to be those talks this week.
“They’ve been reluctant to do anything due to PSR. I initially thought the Kalvin Phillips information (that we were walking away) was an act of brinkmanship, that they were looking to get the information out there so Man City returned to the table and lowered their demands.
“I just think Newcastle have to do something. If they don’t do something, this season is in danger. They aren’t going to get into Europe. They’ve got to give Eddie Howe some help. I think this Joelinton news will change things.
“They didn’t want to do anything this month, but I think their hand will be forced by this Joelinton injury news.”
Howe went into a lot of detail about joelintons injury at his Man City presser. He normally shrugs and says ‘ we’ll see’.
At that point I guessed it was bad so I’m sure the club were all over this already
Talk of an ‘emergency transfer meeting feels like basically sensationalist, click bait bull5h1t and I’ve just fallen for it 🤣🤣
GoWest!Mag(Quote)
Newcastle should not sell to any other team that refuse to deal with us. Two can play their game. Fight back and if any come sniffing around tell them to go away. For crying out loud fight back.
Bykerboy.(Quote)
I think it is fair to say that the recruitment department has pretty much failed in recent times. It looks as if Minteh isn’t ready for first team action as he would have been recalled by now particularly in the light of the current injury situation.
Kuol, it seems, to have been already written off as not good enough to progress at this club..
Tonali should have been vetted more carefully before we bought him and if we ARE going to sell one of our ‘big’ players in the summer to help FFP I think it should be him.
They paid good money for Hall yet the lad hasn’t really had a chance to shine so I don’t think they are all that convinced about him.
The fitness and training experts at the club can’t expect criticism either as the injury situation has been farcical. We are supposed to have brought in the very best fitness individuals and doctors yet we have been playing injured players and aggravating injuries enough to create more lengthy problems. The question must also be asked if we are doing the correct training, exercises etc. to cause all these problems. Arsenal went through a whole season in the past and hardly changed a player from game to game. Where has all this fatigue come from recently? Is a lot of it in the mind and if so what are these ‘renowned’ sports psychology people we’ve taken on doing for their money?
Yes we had a great season last time round but there are lots of problems to be addressed at the moment. And that’s not including this unfair and ludicrous FFP business.
Maybe we should be looking at legal action against such unfair business practices!
Lots for the PIF to get their teeth into but I don’t think they’ll be happy at the way things are going at present. And that’s worrying!
toonarden(Quote)