The half a billion pounds Newcastle United team becomes a reality | OneFootball

I can’t wait to watch this Newcastle United team play.

The 2025/26 season beckons, only another four weeks to wait.

I am not saying this Newcastle United team will line up on the very first day of the season at Aston Villa, Saturday 16 August 2025.

However, for me this will be the first choice Newcastle United team by the time we kick-off in the Champions League in mid-September, with everybody fit and available.

An exciting prospect and one I can’t wait to see on the pitch.

Here I have listed that Newcastle United team with transfer fees (including potential future add-ons), as well as the transfer window when NUFC signed them (plus their age now – 11 July 2025):

£35m James Trafford (Summer 2025) Age 22

£38m Tino Livramento (Summer 2023) Age 22

£50m Identity unknown as yet (Summer 2025) Age early 20s

£35m Sven Botman (Summer 2022) Age 25

£28m Lewis Hall (Summer 2024) Age 20

£55m Sandro Tonali (Summer 2023) Age 25

£41m Bruno Guimaraes (January 2022) Age 27

£40m Joelinton (Summer 2019) Age 28

£55m Anthony Elanga (Summer 2025) Age 23

£63m Alexander Isak (Summer 2022) Age 25

£45m Anthony Gordon (January 2023) Age 24

Welcome to the half a billion pounds Newcastle United team!

If you want to split hairs, it actually adds up to £485m using the figures above but in reality, with agents fees and the rest, it would actually be far more than half a billion.

Now before the usual suspects start saying Newcastle United buying success, every club does so. Success without spending money is impossible.

Plus, many Premier League rivals have spent similar amounts on building their squads, some far far more.

Whilst Newcastle United with Eddie Howe and these owners have had to play catch up. A decade and a half of a failure to invest properly on and off the pitch under Mike Ashley, left United way behind other PL clubs who had used that time and money generated to build their clubs ever bigger and more powerful. From investment in the first team down to the academy, as well as on the infrastructure – stadium, training ground and so on.

Anthony Elanga will soon be announced and I have put a reasonable £35m figure for James Trafford, who also looks on his way. A central defender will also surely come and I have given him a nominal age of 23 and a transfer fee of £50m.

As I say, spending on a team and squad that was getting relegated before the takeover rescued the situation, was essential, Both for safety and then to build going forward.

Apart from Joelinton, all the ten players above are (will) be signings made under the new owners and Eddie Howe.

Though it is worth pointing out that as well as the desperate position they inherited back in October 2021, very few quality players included in that, these signings under Eddie Howe are across four years and eight transfer windows!

The 11 players above bought across Summer 2019 (one), January 2022 (one), Summer 2022 (two), January 2023 (one), Summer 2023 (two), Summer 2024 (one), Summer 2025 (three).

However, as I say, this hasn’t been an instant half a billion pounds team bought by Newcastle United and Eddie Howe. It has been across eight transfer windows AND the fact that all of the big money buys have been successes, is massive credit to Eddie Howe and the recruitment team.

One other huge point is that because United and Howe have been brave AND inspired in their recruitment, the big money has all gone on young signings, all of them aged 23 or under, even Joelinton!

So this half a million pounds Newcastle United team is one built for now AND the years to come, the eleven listed above have an average age of 24 and the oldest is 28 year old Joelinton, only he and Bruno aged over 25.