I’m not getting upset about any player choosing to sign for Chelsea or Manchester United | OneFootball

I am reading a lot of angst from Newcastle United fans about players signing for Manchester United and Chelsea.

Manchester United with Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo.

Chelsea with Liam Delap and Joao Pedro.

At the start of June we saw Manchester United trigger the Matheus Cunha £62.5m release clause and he moved from Wolves.

That followed by Liam Delap signing for Chelsea, as they triggered his £30m relegation release clause to leave Ipswich Town.

Newcastle United had been linked to both.

I don’t think there was anything in the NUFC rumours on Cunha and it looked apparent from some way out that he was determined to go to Man U, for whatever reasons, not interested in other clubs. I could never see Matheus Cunha as an Eddie Howe player anyway, having regularly caused trouble at Wolves. Plus, the cost of his transfer fee and extortionate wages for a 26 year old would never, for me, have seen Newcastle interested in any way.

As for Liam Delap, he talked to a number of clubs including Newcastle United, however, the player admitted himself that it had all been pretty much a formality, that he would join Chelsea, due in part to previous connections with people who are at Stamford Bridge. I think that unlike Cunha, Eddie Howe did have some interest in Delap, but not seeing him as a top target and the reality that he was always going to be heading to Chelsea.

I wouldn’t get upset about it.

I don’t understand any Newcastle United fans going on about these (non-)signings, as though some kind of disaster that they ended up at Manchester United and Chelsea.

Which brings me to Bryan Mbeumo and Joao Pedro.

Mbeumo had been linked to Newcastle United, as well as other clubs, for a long time. Long before the 2024/25 season had concluded, Thomas Frank making clear that he expected Bryan Mbeumo to leave this summer. Then after the season ended, it was quickly announced across the media that Mbeumo, like Cunha, only wanted to go to Man U. The fact that he was reportedly wanting wages of £200,000 a week or more and Man U happy to pay them (as already the case with Rashford, Antony, Sancho…) may have had a little to do with that. A month on and Bryan Mbeumo is still not a Man U player, Brentford insisting on at least £65m and so far Ratcliffe’s lot not willing to meet that figure, on top of the huge wages.

I don’t think there was any active interest in Bryan Mbeumo from Newcastle United, leaving aside any interest from other clubs, the idea that for a player who will be 26 when the season kicks off, that NUFC would be paying £65m+ on top of huge wages that would smash their current pay structure, on what would be a depreciating asset, I just think the figures would have been far beyond what Newcastle would have seen as part of their summer recruitment strategy. Plus of course, the impact it would have on Alexander Isak and others if Mbeumo given wages far beyond any existing NUFC player.

As for Joao Pedro, clearly Newcastle United and Eddie Howe are interested and an offer has already been rejected.

Now The Mail and others are reporting that Chelsea have also made an offer, which like United’s, has been rejected as well. Both offers said to fall below the £60m+ that Brighton are seemingly wanting.

Especially with this latest Joao Pedro stuff, I see Newcastle United fans getting especially angry.

Why are these players not joining Newcastle United ahead of the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United?

For many of these Newcastle supporters, the answer is that it is a failure of NUFC recruitment and their approach to this summer’s transfer business.

None of it ruffles this Magpie’s feathers. It appears to me that these Newcastle fans are adding 2+2+2+2 and instead of 8, they are getting 7,765,887.

If indeed, Mbeumo and/or Cunha had a choice of Newcastle United or Manchester United, then they decided on Old Trafford over St James’ Park, why would you be bothered?

Both of these players will be 26 years old when the 2025/26 Premier League season kicks off, moving into the key years of their careers, so if they did choose to go to Man U, what does that say about them?

Manchester United are a total shambles on and off the pitch, Sir Jim Ratcliffe has thankfully proved a total clown when working alongside his mates the Glazer, whilst Ruben Amorim has been a similar disaster.

Any player going to Old Trafford at the moment is clearly not doing it for sporting reasons, it will be only about the wages they will bank and maybe to be able to say they played for the ‘famous’ Manchester United, what the club was in the past, not what is the state of it now.

Imagine turning your back on Newcastle United who have won a trophy this season under the brilliant Eddie Howe AND have Champions League football to look forward to, to instead join the Old Trafford circus?

The reality for me, is that Newcastle United were never actively chasing eight of these players, Cunha nor Mbeumo. United fans getting unnecessarily upset over nothing.

The same with any players signing for Chelsea, a similar but very different bizarre decision for a player such as say Liam Delap. They sign young players on an industrial scale, especially young players where they can take advantage of what they see as a bargain price, such as a £30m release clause for Liam Delap.

Countless players signed like this by Chelsea BUT the majority of them simply to make a profit on, not to become Chelsea stars of the future. I would be surprised if Delap will see much action at all, certainly not starting games. No surprise if he is out on loan within 12 months to get another club paying his wages whilst at the same time inflating his value, then sell him on at a large profit, having barely started for Chelsea.

As for Joao Pedro, lets see what happens.

The reality with this one is that Brighton hold all the cards and are under no pressure at all to make any quick decision.

I see Newcastle United fans saying why haven’t our club gone in and done a deal before other clubs have taken an interest. You would think Chelsea and others had never heard of Joao Pedro before Newcastle tried to buy him! Which is especially bizarre, considering the ridiculous number of players, coaches and managers Chelsea have taken from Brighton previously!

It is a sellers market for Premier League clubs when it comes to quality players, especially in attacking positions, when it comes to other PL clubs wanting them. They have nothing to lose in waiting to see what clubs will offer, playing them off against each other and so on.

Worth pointing out that both Delap and Cunha had release clauses and this meant those signings made very quickly.

I don’t see how anybody can think it so inexplicable that Newcastle United couldn’t just march in and get the Joao Pedro deal done instantly, when at the same time you have the Man U situation with Mbeumo. The player seemingly only interested in going to Man U, yet a month later they still can’t get the deal done because Brentford holding out for every penny they can get.

It sounds like James Trafford is almost there, his deal to Newcastle United looks set to be done shortly. Whilst I am still very confident that at least one of Anthony Elanga, or Joao Pedro, will also get sorted in the not distant future. As well as other transfer business this summer as well for NUFC, in my opinion.

When you are looking at a very small pool of players as potential targets, which is the case with Newcastle United and Eddie Howe now in terms of those players who could improve our first eleven, it is no surprise that other clubs will also be trying to sign these same players as well. No club manages to sign all the players they’d ideally like to do.

As outlined above, I don’t think Newcastle United were ever going to be signing Cunha, Mebeumo or Delap this summer.

Trying to make out that they are three players NUFC have ‘failed’ to sign is totally misleading and isn’t an indication of some kind of total failure in the St James’ Park strategy.

As for Joao Pedro and others, who are Newcastle United active targets, lets wait and see.

Eddie Howe and Newcastle United offer an exciting future for any signing, if say Joao Pedro doesn’t want to follow in the footsteps of Isak, Tonali, Hall, Livramento, Botman, Gordon…then more fool him.