With the January window closing at 11pm last night, Eddie Howe has now addressed what has been another difficult window for Newcastle United.
That dreaded ‘PSR’ word has dominated the headlines and most of our moves – made with a ‘business’ hat on, not a footballing one – but it’s hoped that this short-term pain will lead to long-term gain.
Offloading Miguel Almiron and Lloyd Kelly for a combined £30m while failing to bring in anyone is far from ideal, but it could serve to benefit us hugely this summer – at least, that’s the plan.
Howe offers hope for future
Howe admitted that there is an “overall element of frustration” that our squad has got weaker over January, but offered a glimmer of hope that we’ll soon be in a position to strengthen.
Without offering promises, the boss hinted that there could be freedom to make “football-based decisions” over the summer, suggesting our “prudent” moves last month – no signings and £30m in sales – will pay dividends soon.
This is a risk, of course, as we’ve lost two squad players in the process, but Howe is hopeful that the “future looks a little bit brighter” from a transfer perspective after a successful month from a PSR perspective.
“I said right at the start in the build up to the window, that it was not a case really of looking at incoming – it was a case of trying to manage outgoings really and trying to not weaken the squad to a point where the team’s affected. But we also future plan and make sure that we control everything in terms of our PSR level, so I think we’ve done that. I think it’s been successful in that regard.
“I think the two sales – the two players go with our best wishes, they’re two great lads. The squad is lighter in numbers but high in quality so I think for us managing injuries will be a big part of what we do now in this part of the season coming up. There is still no reason why we can’t be successful but yeah, hopefully the future looks a little bit brighter.
“I think I’ve said many times it’s a difficult thing to give a definitive and clear answers, and that’s not me being difficult as to what the future looks like, but I think certainly the last year we know we’ve been managing a situation where we had to make decisions, as I’ve said many times before, that we wouldn’t have necessarily made from a football perspective.
“But hopefully by being prudent and making good decisions now, in the future we won’t be making those decisions, we’ve been making purely football-based decisions. When we get to that point, I can’t give you a definitive date, that’d be wrong of me to do so, but I think everything that we’re doing is trying to leave us to that point.”
Howe: Kelly exit did not open door to late signing
During this morning’s press conference, Lee Ryder asked if Kelly’s loan-to-buy exit opened up ‘headroom’ for the club to sign over the final stages of the January window.
Some were hopeful we’d make a late move after securing up to £30m for both Almiron and Kelly, but Howe insists the latter’s late switch to Juventus did not change things.
“No. That did not give us any positive headroom to bring a player in. We knew from the off this month we weren’t in the incoming market. It was about controlling sales that navigated us out of a problem. So that’s where we were the whole month, and it never changed..”
Howe then explained his stance on our lack of deadline day activity, explaining why it was no surprise behind the scenes to see no one arrive.
“We had been planning and looking at numbers and opportunities for weeks and weeks and weeks. Frustrated yesterday? No. That (losing Kelly and Almiron) was a long time in making, it ended how we expected it to at the start. So different emotions for me. I think overall an element of frustration because have not taken the squad forward in a positive way.”
“I think that is everybody’s aim and ambition (to strengthen) when you go into a transfer window, but not frustrated on deadline day, it is overall frustrating because we are trying to take the team forward and progress. We are trying to improve and get better. Obviously, we haven’t been able to do that.”
On Kelly’s exit, Howe added that it wasn’t necessarily his decision to let the defender leave, but more of a PSR-driven call that will “benefit us long term.”
“I don’t think it was necessarily my decision to let him leave,” Howe said. “We were very reluctant from our side. But we are trying to manage PSR and make decisions that will benefit us long term. This is one of those decisions”
No figure set for summer – but club will communicate plan
There’s been reports suggesting our shrewd January could hand us a £100m boost this summer, but Howe wouldn’t comment on specifics when quizzed this morning.
Instead, he hinted at communication from the club could come in due course to explain our approach to January and plans moving forward.
“It would be nice if they could (change the PSR rules)”, Howe said. “I think for us, no, there is no set figure (of how much we can spend this summer).
“I know people have said all sorts of things, ‘war chests’, but it does not quite work like that. We are in a position where we will communicate and discuss what is going to happen in the next window but that’s not now.”
What happens in the summer will depend upon where we finish in the league. We need Champions League to attract top players, and that will also cost at least £125m so we still need to offload some fringe players.
PremAndUp(Quote)
Prem – you’re dead right mate.
I also wonder if it impacts being able to work on pre-contract agreements for the likes of Jonathan David or Angel Gomes – I think David is a possible but would he still join even if European football isn’t guaranteed 🤷🏼♂️.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Howe has to stop being overly loyal, and accept we have to trade perfect example giving Jolinton a huge contract, he’s no going to get any better be a really hard to sell him for the clubs that’ll be interested in him we’ve got to know when to sell
Darren Bebb(Quote)