Newcastle Fans Warned Financial Fair Play Rules May Require Sale of Eddie Howe’s Key Player, CEO Acknowledges Long Road to Sustainable Top Six Status

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Newcastle United say that every player has a price and one of their stars will have to be sold if they are to beat financial rules and challenge at the top of the Premier League.

That was the message from chief executive Darren Eales as he outlined how restrictive Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) are on the Saudi-owned club’s spending power, also warning there is not scope for a significant incoming this month.

Asked if one of Bruno Guimaraes, Sven Botman or Alexander Isak would be sold in the summer, Eales said: ‘It’s difficult to hypothesis but, if we’re offered £1billion for one of those players, then no-one could argue against that making sense.

‘If we’re going to get to where we want to get to, at times it is necessary to trade your players. It is counter-intuitive and part of the inherent system of PSR that there is an incentive to trade your players, if you want to re-invest.’

So, every player has a price?

Newcastle United chief Darren Eales (left) admitted that the club may have to sell one of their key players if offered enough money

Alexander Isak joined the Magpies at the start of last season, but Eales highlighted that every player has their price

Alexander Isak joined the Magpies at the start of last season, but Eales highlighted that every player has their price

‘Correct,’ said Eales, talking to reporters from the St James’ Park boardroom as the club revealed accounts showing revenue of £250million – a 39 per cent increase – but with a loss of £73.4m, largely due to £153m spent on new players.

During an hour-long briefing, Eales sought to kill speculation over Eddie Howe’s future and addressed that of sporting director Dan Ashworth, who has been linked with Manchester United.

‘Dan’s done a great job, there’s a lot more work to be done and we’re hopeful he’s here for the long term,’ he said. ‘He’s certainly enjoying his time at the moment.’

On Howe, he said: ‘Eddie has done a remarkable job. Sometimes you have to pinch yourself that we were 19th and fearing relegation and then, last season, for the first time in 20 years we got to play in a Wembley final and we qualified for Champions League. There’s no doubt we have had that real progression on the pitch and Eddie is a huge, integral part of that. We hope he is going to be with us for many years to come.’

But it was the subject of the Premier League’s PSR that led Eales to warn supporters one of their favourites could be sacrificed, citing examples such as Jack Grealish, Declan Rice and Philippe Coutinho.

‘For example, you have a £50m player you can sell and you bring in another player of the same value. You might say, what’s the point in doing that?’ he began. ‘But, under FFP, if you sell a £50m player and bring in an identical one at £50m on the same wages, but amortise over five years the player you are bringing in, that’s only £10m a year, so you are creating £40m of headroom. That’s the reality of the FFP model.

‘We have seen lots of examples. Coutinho at Liverpool and they brought in Allison and Virgil van Dijk. Grealish going from Aston Villa and they have reinvested. Declan Rice at West Ham. It’s just the nature of the beast. You have to keep growing that headroom by increasing commercial revenue and player trading.

‘We want to be a top six sustainable club and Tottenham’s latest accounts was £440m (revenue). We are at £250m, so there is a big step even to the lower end of the top six. We have also seen that Manchester City are £710m. There is a long way to go.’

Magpies sporting director Dan Ashworth has been linked with a move to Manchester United

Magpies sporting director Dan Ashworth has been linked with a move to Manchester United

Eales says there are constant discussions between Premier League clubs over whether PSR restrictions need to be changed and he admits it is limiting for Newcastle, whose Saudi owners are, theoretically, the richest in world football.

‘When the takeover took place, the PSR regime was already in place, so we have always known that those are the rules and we will always be compliant,’ he said, answering a question as to whether his club was ‘handcuffed’.

‘But if you are trying to be an upwardly mobile club, it makes it a huge challenge. As an ownership group, we are process driven and we are patient. We are going to invest but the PSR regime undoubtedly makes it more challenging than if it wasn’t there. It would certainly be easier (without it).

‘We have to be efficient and maximise our resources. We can’t think week to week, month to month. If we are going to get where we want to get to, which is a top-six sustainable club competing for trophies, we have to take a long-term vision.’

Newcastle are exploring a loan move for Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips this month but Eales says there is unlikely to be a cash signing. He also ruled out a loan move for any player in Saudi Arabia.

‘There is no intention, as things stand, to do any loans from the PIF clubs in Saudi Arabia,’ he said.

On January, he added: ‘It’s a difficult window to get value when you’re in the middle of the season and you are trying to bring quality in. Summer is always better from a value and planning perspective.

‘Secondly, we have had a number of injuries and we have got some very good players coming back in the second half of the season. We have to approach it on the medium to long term basis rather than knee-jerk reactions. We always have to be mindful of the PSR stuff and making sure we are always going to be compliant long term.

The club's return to the Champions League will see a revenue boost of £37million next year

The club’s return to the Champions League will see a revenue boost of £37million next year 

‘For us, January isn’t a great window to be doing business. That doesn’t mean we won’t do any business, as we saw with Anthony Gordon last year, but it’s difficult to do any major surgery.’

Newcastle’s revenue will be boosted in next year’s accounts by a £37m gain from the Champions League, a £25m shirt sponsorship deal with Sela and the arrival of Adidas as kit manufacturer.

However, on the field the team have fallen to ninth in recent weeks and are 11 points outside the top four. Eales admits European football is integral to their journey in terms of pushing back financial boundaries.

‘In the long term, we want to be consistently competing in Europe,’ he said. ‘If we are going to be that top-six sustainable club competing for trophies, we need to have that year-to-year of being in Europe.

While Eales admitted that January isn't a great window for doing business, he did point out that the club signed Anthony Gordon this time last year

While Eales admitted that January isn’t a great window for doing business, he did point out that the club signed Anthony Gordon this time last year

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‘We’re hopeful with players coming back, with the fact that we’re not going to have the intensity of games for that second half of the season, that we can be in a position where we qualify for Europe, because clearly that gives us revenue from the matches, from your progression.’

Meanwhile, Eales said the ownership would prefer to remain at St James’ Park rather than build a new stadium and that consolation was ongoing.

’St James’ Park is a great location at the heart of the community, up on the hill, and if we can expand St James’, then clearly that would make sense,’ he said. ‘But we have to know what’s possible. That is our number one approach, and that’s what our experts are doing now. We’ve got world leaders looking at it in terms of what is architecturally possible and what that would mean from a capacity and revenue perspective.

‘To look beyond that is to be second guessing. But at the moment, if there’s a way that we can expand St James’, then all things being equal, that would be the route that we’d like to take.’

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