Journalist clarifies whether Newcastle United will have money to spend in January after big summer outlay
Newcastle United went big in the summer transfer window, bringing in six first-team players and breaking their transfer record in the process.
After having to endure three transfer windows with very minimal spending, it was a relief to the club and the fans to be in a position to finally spend money again and overhaul the squad.
The players Newcastle brought in significantly strengthened the squad and gave Eddie Howe some genuine options for squad rotation for the first time.
However, after spending so much, there's a fear that we've put ourselves into a similar position as before by maxing out our spending capability in terms of Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), and may have to take it easy in the next couple of windows to balance out.
Alexander Isak's record-breaking fee should keep PSR at bay for a while
Fortunately, that won't be the case this time, thanks in no small part to the £125 million fee received for selling Alexander Isak to Liverpool and the way that the accounts are structured in terms of PSR.
While the entire £125 million from Isak's sale can be applied to one year's accounts, the big fees spent in the summer are amortised over the length of the players' contracts.
That means there's plenty of headroom left to play with before PSR becomes an issue.
Newcastle will have the money but may not have the need to spend
Chris Waugh was asked in his Q&A for The Athletic whether Newcastle will have the money or the inclination to spend in January.
While Waugh confirms that the money is there, he believes that whether the Magpies dip into the market will depend more on circumstances at the time. Should Tino Livramento's injury prove to be long-term, they may look at a new full-back, or if there's still an issue with creating chances, then a new midfielder could be recruited.
It seems very likely that Newcastle will only recruit if absolutely necessary, given how inflated the market becomes in the mid-season window.
