Musings on the transfer market by a non-expert | OneFootball

Due to PSR, Newcastle United can’t sign a first-team player from a rival that said rival doesn’t want to sell.

Due to PSR, Newcastle United probably can’t sign a player who’s done well at a selling Premier League club if a rival wants the same player.

Due to PSR, Newcastle United are probably limited to signing established players with no Premier League experience from abroad, younger players with potential and some Premier League experience, or young players from abroad with no Premier League experience.

This all seems pretty obvious to me. There appeared to be a 50/50 split between commenters on The Mag about the likelihood of Newcastle United signing Bryan Mbeumo [and his beard] this summer.

I think in an ideal world [5-6 years in the future, if all goes well] we’ll be in the mix for that type of transfer.

It harks back to the last time Newcastle United had a decent side, under Uncle Sir Bobby in the 2000s. We were behind Liverpool, Arsenal, Man Utd in the pecking order. There was no PSR. All clubs could sign who they could afford, but Newcastle United would not necessarily be first choice for any megastar. Bobby fashioned a rock ‘n’ roll team half of dedicated pros like Shearer, Speed, Lee and Given, with flawed-but-superb stars like Robert, Bellamy, Jenas and Dyer. Players with the ability to play for any team but with flaws that meant we could get them.

Going back further to the mid-90s is the last time we felt Newcastle really COULD sign anyone. Shearer, obviously. The world record transfer fee. But before that, before the explosion in transfer fees, Newcastle United were there, signing Sir Les, Tino, David F Batty, Warren Barton [£4m being the highest English fee for a defender]. Before that, even, Newcastle were the only side in the WORLD to sign four players for more than £2m in 1994 [bonus point to the first commenter to name all four]. Kevin Keegan spotted a player he wanted, they’d go for him. We signed Daveeeed despite interest from Barca and Real Madrid, and almost nabbed George Weah before Milan got him.

We can’t sign players like Mbeumo that are [almost] guarantees, yet. We are still limited to gambles. Players with question marks. Our big signings recently have been risks. Young ‘uns with little experience [Hall, Tino], unknown quantities in the Premier League [Isak, Bruno, Tonali, Botman]. Barnes was less of a risk but was a bargain because of Leicester’s relegation.

The fantastic thing about this, is that Eddie Howe and his team seem to be superb at reducing the risk with a combination of taking a player’s character, as well as their ability, into account. They only go for those that they KNOW are going to put the effort in to improve and fit the system. This reduces the risk factor and has led to such a high success rate from their transfer dealings.

Another thing to remember is that, like in the Keegan days, very few of the transfers had previously had any gossip attached to them. BOOM, the player was there holding a black and white scarf aloft, grinning next to Eddie. I think that’ll be how they happen this summer.

I am not saying don’t dream. Bryan Mbeumo is a cracker who I am certain would succeed at Newcastle United. Eddie would have wanted him but Eddie would have dismissed the transfer as impossible. If there’s another like him at Brentford, Bournemouth, Brighton [or a mid-table club that starts with a different letter] in five or six years time, we’ll be battling Man Utd to sign them.