Eddie Howe says there is money to spend and the club are willing to spend it but PSR is still an issue
PSR, the three letters Newcastle United fans hate the most. Profit and Sustainability Rules forced Newcastle to sell one of their most exciting prospects in Elliot Anderson, and it has been the biggest reason the team can't break into that "Big Six".
Next season, PSR will be gone, but it will be replaced by Squad Cost Ratio rules, another restriction that is likely to gatekeep the bigger clubs in their own little bracket and prevent aspiring clubs from challenging.
Even though PSR is being replaced, clubs still have to comply with the rules for now, and it's therefore still a big concern for Newcastle, who want to spend money, but it's almost like they are scared to.
Newcastle sold Alexander Isak to Liverpool in the summer for £130 million, and that has led fans to believe there's a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow for the club, but Eddie Howe has explained the reality this morning.
Eddie Howe says there is money to be spent, but PSR is a problem
Speaking to the media, Howe was asked about potential business in January with Newcastle seemingly needing players, and he was directly asked about the money pot from the Isak sale.
"I don't think it is a case that there is a pot of money stood there somewhere. I think PSR is constantly moving and changing depending on our income.
"So lots of things affect our income. So whether we are in the Champions League, how successful we are through the season, it is constantly changing.
"You can't ever really get one reading on it. It changes on a daily basis so we are having to react and change to that ourselves as we go through the season.
"All I can assure everybody is that there is money to spend, the club are willing to spend it, it is not a case of holding anything back. Of course, we have to comply within the rules; we know how important that is."
Have we mentioned just how much we loathe PSR?
So the bottom line is: The money is there, the club wants to spend it, but because PSR is such a mess, they daren't incase they don't finish in the European places this season, or crash out of the Champions League before the knockout stages.
What a magnificent system we have in place here.
It's easy for us to sit on the outside and say that if we spend money now and improve the squad we've got more chance of progressing in the Champions League and finishing in the top five of the Premier League, but Anthony Elanga is the shining example of the fact that you're not guaranteed to get the same level of performance out of a player once you sign them up. There's a lot of risk involved, and we get why the club is being cautious.
That doens't mean we're happy about it, though. The dawdling in the transfer market is so frustrating.
