It’s been a brutal summer transfer window so far at Newcastle United, featuring far more rejections and unsettling Alexander Isak rumours than new signings.
Attempting to explain how it’s come to this is tricky given all the factors, with PIF, PSR, no sporting director, an unwell CEO and a thin recruitment team left behind all playing a part.
But who have we missed out on, why didn’t they sign (some with good reason, sadly) and what is the one deal that feels like one huge (and potentially avoidable) waste of time? My attempt to summarise is as follows:
I can believe that Newcastle made an early push for Dean Huijsen, but never stood a chance when up against Real Madrid.
I can understand why we’ve still not got Marc Guehi given last August’s time-wasting exercise with Crystal Palace and the suspicion he is either holding out for Liverpool or likely to run down his contract.
I can believe that Liam Delap picked Chelsea to play under former coach Enzo Marseca, along with the fear of playing second fiddle to Alexander Isak had he joined Newcastle.
I can believe Newcastle felt a £70m fee plus massive wages was too much for Bryan Mbeumo, even if the Man Utd-bound Cameroonian seemed like the perfect right winger.
I can believe Joao Pedro fancied London, bigger wages at Chelsea and never committed to us due to #CFC waiting in the wings.
I can believe the Hugo Ekitike saga was a similar story to the above, with Champions Liverpool hovering and prepared to pay big as Frankfurt pushed for a bidding war.
But I am struggling to accept the James Trafford situation as Man City appear to have hijacked our pursuit of the Burnley goalkeeper.
Trafford mess self-inflicted?
We’ve spent over 12 months pursuing James Trafford. After a £16m bid failed last summer, it’s become clear that he is keen to join and we’ve been told multiple times that personal terms would not be a problem.
The price has clearly been a problem, perhaps inflated by Man City’s 20% sell-on clause, but our apparent refusal to meet their £40m demands for England’s future No. 1 has wasted precious time and given yet another ‘big six’ rival the opportunity to step in.
Trafford to Man City is not done yet, but this one felt avoidable and a chance to respond to several transfer setbacks. However, seven weeks into the summer window, it is now likely that the 22-year-old Howe was eager to sign becomes the latest ‘top target’ we’ll miss out on.
If Man City have a first refusal buy-back clause that still hasn’t expired then we’d be wrong on this one and Newcastle’s hands would be tied, but I’m really not sure that’s the case.
Fabrizio Romano and Luke Edwards suggested it was almost done at the end of June, while Craig Hope seemed to think it was a formality earlier this year. What changed? If this Man City caveat is not true, then questions need to be asked.
Giving in to Burnley’s demands isn’t something Newcastle should or will do regularly, but it feels like PIF’s dead-set approach to valuations might’ve cost us here after being scarred by last summer’s PSR mess. Sometimes overpaying is worth it when the stakes are so high…
A huge, huge few weeks lie ahead for PIF, Howe and the recruitment team at Newcastle United, with a number of breakthroughs essential to lift the mood and build a quality and deep squad capable of competing on four fronts.
Forgive me but this is in error as I understand it. Citeh have a buy back clause which means that until the time limit runs out, it hasn’t, they have the right to buy the player back for the value £40m overriding any other offer. Invoking this clause means we were never in the negotiations at all, so to blame us for not succeeding when Citeh always had the final say is disparaging of our attempts. Citeh merely had to tell Burnley they couldn’t sell until Citeh knew if they needed him. One they decided they did, game over.
Hopefully our new technical director still has some pull at Benfica as they have a good GK and RCB we could use.
PremAndUp(Quote)
Not sure on this, but it’s mentioned in the piece as a caveat ^
“If Man City have a first refusal buy-back clause that still hasn’t expired then we’d be wrong on this one and Newcastle’s hands would be tied, but I’m really not sure that’s the case.”
Olly Hawkins(Quote)
OK. Just saying ‘IF’ that is the case then your headline ‘Newcastle’s biggest mistake yet of brutal summer? – Why £40m mess may be inexcusable’ is unfair. If on the other hand it just took an extra couple of mill to seal the deal then fair do’s
PremAndUp(Quote)
Regarding Trafford Olly hope it has not been a case of having to get one of the other goalkeepers out before we can bring him in.
Darren Bebb(Quote)
Should never have signed Vlach absolute disaster of a signing
Jack(Quote)
It looks as though our insistence of buying players with Premiere League experience has massively backfired as the big 6 are well used to cherrypicking, making themselves stronger and other teams weaker, this has gone on since Bill Shankly was manager, buying players and sticking them in the reserves eg.
The fact is we can’t compete financially in terms of signings or salaries.
Our only worthwhile strategy is to buy abroad until we can match them within the corrupt rules as they stand.
We do not seem to have anyone capable of formulating a worthwhile strategy at the moment CEO’s and DIRECTORS OF FOOTBALL have failed miserably in this area.
Joseph(Quote)
The problem is we set out our stall by picking players, adding OUR valuation of the players and refusing to budge whatever the selling club wanted. This was a recipe for disaster as other clubs were willing to come somewhere near the selling clubs valuation whereas we weren’t.
Each deal has been hijacked by other clubs above us because they were flexible and willing to negotiate. Our transfer policy has massively backfired and we will see the clubs above us widen the gap when we could have brought in players to help us catch up. It’s an absolute mess.
mactoon(Quote)
NUFC transfer policy 1/10. Pathetic. Pathetic. It’s even getting worse Trafford to NUFC has been a 99% done deal for over a year. Why has he not been signed? Pathetic. Pathetic. Inexcusable and pathetic.
davewallace(Quote)
Pressure is off Howe and the boys really, hopefully we have a good CL run but totally unrealistic to expect that and achieve top 4 when everyone strengthens and we don’t.
Newkie(Quote)
Apart from avoiding a 10 point deduction, or selling Isak\gordon below market value. Forest had us us over a barrel but still did us a favour really. The mess we were in it was the only way, self inflicted yes but we had to sign him. If we hadn’t then there wouldn’t be Cl now or prob the league cup win either. Context is everything here
East stand(Quote)
We just don’t know the facts here. Apparently city have been in the background all summer, we don’t know how the clause works. Even if we could have bought him without city using it, we had to go close or to £40m. Apparently Burnley have upped the price at least once too. Our priorities are winger (sorted and got a top target), striker (been a nightmare and still not done), centre back (hopefully in progress and haven’t missed anyone apart from huisen who was never realistic for even Liverpool/ arsenal when Madrid got involved). Then keeper. I suspect we are going for him because we think he’s going to be a top player (he is) even though keeper isn’t as big a priority as the other areas. We have a budget, unlike city, so it may well be that if we go to £40m we can’t then afford a striker or defender from our list – are people happy with that? I’m not, and I really rate Trafford. Priorities again. plus paying the asking price, which Burnley have inflated again in the last month, sends a message that we cave in. That’s fine for man u etc, but nufc are paranoid about it. Too paranoid? Maybe, but you can understand why as the so called richest club in the world who are anything but. It sets up every deal to follow and is very hard to shake. The club clearly feel it can’t be risked and I still get that
East stand(Quote)
Also Directors of Football live and die by their contacts, particularly agents. No DOF then no close working relationships with agents. Agents will go with who they are comfortable with. Can’t expect EH to have those. Club should have had a DOF in place in June.
PremAndUp(Quote)
But that’s why I asked the question in the title and said ‘may be’ in second part of headline
Olly Hawkins(Quote)
Like many fans you seem to view the club through black and white tinted glasses and the aforementioned many, skip around all sorts of excuses while avoiding the blatantly obvious.
We are not yet the huge draw that many think we already are.
Despite the assertions to the contrary by fans such as yourself, Newcastle IS a remote city and wives and girlfriends DO prefer life in London.
And yes we won the Carabao cup and have now qualified for Europe twice in three years but we have had 3 years of mild success, compared to rivals who had multi year winning streaks. Its not that long ago that Leicester won the Premier League title, the FA Cup and the Charity Shield – hugely more successful than us – but the big players were not lining up to sign for them.
As I said, we are not the huge draw we think we are. The likes of Bruno, Isak and Tonali have made us into a strong team, but as players they were not superstars coming to a huge club, they were decent players coming to a club that has struggled for years.
To get players in a little easier we need to be doing better with more consistency season to season, and we need the revenue that allows us to pay the big salaries. Isak, currently one of the best strikers in the world, is earning a third of what some of his contemporaries are earning.
This is why we are having difficulties bringing players in, and this is why our superstars will always be the subject of transfer rumours.
Jordi Plato(Quote)
It seems our focus on signing players with Premier League experience has seriously backfired. The top six clubs have long mastered the art of cherry-picking talent—strengthening themselves while weakening others. This practice has been around since the days of Bill Shankly, when players were sometimes bought only to sit in the reserves. stickman hook
Luis Allison(Quote)
Some sensible words above, thanks Jordi and East, can’t disagree with the analysis, but I’m afraid the conclusion is still of incompetence at handling the situation we are in, a pathetic litany of failure in the transfer window so far, 1/10 = truly pathetic. It is actually way too early in the transfer window to give a final judgement, but it is fair to comment on progress (!) so far, That Trafford is not here yet is particularly pathetic (yes, I know our incompetence here goes back a full year, not just this last month).
davewallace(Quote)
Nonsense trafford has a buy out first picks contractual obligation to man city at £40 million .. again you can make a story out of it and blame a sick ceo, Mitchell who managed to fill our under 21’s and youth teams with a group of very good youngsters , Pif who can’t spend due to psr and of course not saint Eddie who is the one picking his prem league only transfers ?.. all of the players mentioned did Not want to come to newcastle.. we held onto isak , livramento ..so far and have elenga .. I am confident that we will have players who can improve us in the coming month ..
just not the prem league players that the cartel ..Chelsea Liverpool and man Utd also wanted .. psr is the problem .. man city ,chelsea and Blackburn won the league with massive amounts of cash ., the prem league won’t allow us to do so and the intention is to shut us out .. this is reality that we are dealing with
Mike(Quote)
Bringing in Elanga and beating Munich to a U21 player, as well as moving on Longstaff and Wilson, and keeping hold of all of our stars… Surely it’s at least a 2/10 window so far.
CYM(Quote)