Newcastle United take necessary gamble | OneFootball

How’s the summer going for everyone? Anyone sick of the internationals yet? With the transfer window already ajar we now have the inevitable stories of who Newcastle United are interested in signing and who will be shown the door.

And then we have the trials and tribulations of Financial Fair Play. A misnomer of a term if ever I’ve heard of one.

It may be “fair” for those that have already splashed hundreds of millions of pounds but it isn’t for Newcastle United.

In amongst the speculation we have the realisation.

In order to comply with the unfair restraints, we have had to sell before the window has properly got going, simply to balance the 2023/24 financial year.

To do this, Newcastle United have seen three main departures and I find the business to be excellent.

Gone are Elliot Anderson, Yankuba Minteh and the rat that was Dan Ashworth. Yet some seem to be at their wits end.

Some £30m+ for Anderson, a youngster that has only started a smattering of games, is remarkable business. That we have Bruno, Joelinton, Sandro Tonali, Joe Willock, Sean Longstaff and Lewis Miley ahead of him, seems to be lost on some people.

Then £30m+ for another youngster who is yet to kick a ball in this country, let alone for this club, is quite frankly astonishingly good business, no matter how good (or not so good) the kid turns out to be.

And the £10m Newcastle United will reportedly glean for the loss of the services of top gardener Dan Ashworth, will at least go towards his eventual replacement.

Naysayers/doom mongers will side with the argument that we’ve let two promising talents leave the club and it’s a valid standpoint, but not one I subscribe to, certainly not one that overtly worries me. The one deal that seems to have caused the most consternation is that of Minteh and whilst a tad disappointing, it’s far from the end of the world.

Going back to the sale of Alain Saint-Maximin and a lot of people got their knickers in a twist over that deal as well. Saint-Maximin was talented, experienced in this league and he was here. None of which can be said for certain of Minteh. Tearing up the Dutch league is no guarantee of cutting it on a wet and windy November night on the Bournemouth coast. He may have been a sensation, he may not. He may have fitted in with Eddie Howe’s pressing game. He may not.

Many will have flashbacks to selling Andy Carroll on deadline day for £35m to Liverpool in 2011, which no doubt had Mike Ashley dancing in Shirebrook at the time. This is no such deal this time around. The previous owner didn’t care what happened on the pitch. The new regime do.

A slow build is what is necessary due to the restrictions in place. We can argue all day about how “fair” they are but a reaction was needed and BEFORE the end of June. The club have managed it, no matter how close to the wind they have sailed.

We haven’t lost a Bruno or an Isak, or a Gordon, to fund it either.

The Saint-Maximin deal allowed us to kick on and build at the time, as did the sale of Chris Wood, two players I’m sure Eddie Howe wouldn’t have wanted to be sold when they were. However, as necessity dictates, off they went and the squad was augmented as a result.

We have more than ample cover for the departed Anderson and we have Anthony Gordon, Jacob Murphy and Miguel Almiron (at the time of writing) to play out wide right in the position where Minteh may or may not have played this season.

I’m more than happy to trust the process that has got us this far and the judgement of the manager, who must surely have been asked if he would rather lose a promising starlet or sell a big established hitter in the squad.

I’ll leave you with a comparison.

Yankuba Minteh COULD have become the Nobby Solano of 2024 and onwards and been brilliant for us. Or on the other hand, he could become the modern day Lomana LuaLua.