Newcastle United spent around £65million on signing players this summer and there should be a decent amount of money left to use in the January transfer window, according to Telegraph journalist Luke Edwards.
The national newspaper reporter shared he was told on Wednesday that Newcastle had spent around £65million on players, including add ons, which means they had only spent a little bit of the money gained from the sale of Ayoze Perez.
Edwards claimed that this meant if Bruce needed to strengthen his Magpies side in January then there should be money available for him, and also added that he believes the plan was always to leave some money in the kitty for the winter window.
“I’m aware this will be disputed/denied/derided and I’ve been away so I’ve not kept a close eye on exact fees but told today that #nufc have spent around £65m on players with add ons in this window. A decent amount but there should still be money left to use in January,” wrote the journalist on his verified Twitter account.
“It would mean #nufc have spent the transfer budget and a little bit of the Perez money, but not all of it by any stretch. Think the plan was always to leave a bit back unless a truly remarkable player became available. If Bruce needs to strengthen in Jan the money SHOULD be there.”
It would mean #nufc have spent the transfer budget and a little bit of the Perez money, but not all of it by any stretch. Think the plan was always to leave a bit back unless a truly remarkable player became available. If Bruce needs to strengthen in Jan the money SHOULD be there
— Luke Edwards (@LukeEdwardsTele) August 8, 2019
OPINION
Edwards claiming there should be money for players in January, rather than there will be, seems like a dig at Magpies owner Mike Ashley. This is because while logically there should be money left in the transfer kitty, there’s no guarantee that the Newcastle chief will release funds in January based on past windows. After all, it’s only in the recent summer window and January window that Newcastle have spent notable fees on signing new players. Newcastle only spent a fee above £10m between 2016 and August 2018 three times, see Matt Ritchie, Dwight Gayle and Jacob Murphy for more details, as per Sky Sports, which was practically peanuts at that time compared to other clubs, and it didn’t appear as if the Magpies didn’t have the funds available to spend bigger fees on players either. Yet in January, the Magpies broke their transfer record by signing Miguel Almiron for £20million, as per the BBC, before breaking their record once again in the summer by spending £40million on Joelinton (Source: BBC). It’ll be interesting to see how both Almiron and Joelinton do in the 2019/20 campaign as if they live up to their price tag, it may help Bruce get Ashley to spend big once again in January.
