Newcastle’s season reached its nadir with Sunday’s loss to Sunderland, but manager Eddie Howe once again lamented the situation they find themselves in in the transfer window.
Eddie Howe’s Newcastle have struggled to maintain consistency throughout the season.
After Newcastle’s last-minute defeat to Sunderland, which drew boos from some fans, Eddie Howe claimed it was “getting harder and harder” for the Magpies to compete in the market.
Howe’s side sit in the bottom half of the table and a lack of consistency means Champions League football is looking beyond them. This means the club has only qualified for Europe’s top club competition twice in the past four years.
In 2023, he finished in 4th place, but after that he rapidly dropped down the rankings. After returning to the party in 2025, a further decline occurred. Newcastle’s preparations for the season have been far from ideal and despite trying hard to retain missing Alexander Isak, they had to admit defeat in the final stages.
Howe claimed that this summer had been the “toughest transfer window ever”, but it still ended with the signing of two strikers worth £125 million, one of them for the club’s biggest ever transfer fee. The return on that investment was eight goals in 40 games in the Premier League.
Wissa suffered an injury early in the season that cost him a lot of playing time. Woltemade was a big change from Isak and showed that the team’s style needed to change if they wanted to get the most out of it, but ultimately it was a decision made by the club.
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When Newcastle first joined the party in 2022 with the help of newfound Saudi funding, they had all the hallmarks of a team poised to lead the charge on how player recruitment is conducted. Now, serious questions are being asked…
It starts with a shock
They captured Bruno Guimarães for the first time under the current regime. The following summer, they signed Isaac. Anthony Gordon will arrive from Everton in six months’ time. They were later joined by Sandro Tonali, Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall, who was initially on loan.
All of these players are worth far more than what Newcastle initially paid them, and all are nearing the peak of their careers. Since then, however, Howe has continued to unearth a story of considerable credibility and Newcastle cannot afford to spend like their rivals.
That’s true to an extent, but it’s questionable to bemoan your buying power when you’re only giving enough to keep £125m of striking power on the bench for the biggest game of the season. In the Champions League match against Barcelona, he started with Wissa and Waltemade coming on as substitutes. In both games, they stayed there for the entire 90 minutes.
Ioan Wissa and Nick Woltemade are both struggling to find their best form at St James’ Park
Sky Sports reports that the striker is on the club’s shortlist for this summer, but it once again points out that the problem is as much about poor recruitment as it is about financial constraints.
Isak was the first major asset to be sold during the club’s Saudi era and there is no getting away from the fact that the money he brought in has not been adequately reinvested. Perhaps they will prove to be a good decision in time, but their struggles this season are partially due to the goals they were unable to replace.
Howe said at the weekend that Newcastle “don’t want to lose momentum in any way”: “We want to bring the best players to the football club if we can, and we don’t want to lose the best players.”
He added: “I think the rules make it very difficult for the momentum to move as fast as it did in the beginning. I don’t know how to break that system. We have to follow the rules that are set.”
New era thinking
So does Newcastle have income from other clubs? no. But one thing they do fall short of their rivals is assets. Guimarães, Sandro Tonali, Anthony Gordon. These are all players who would be in the starting XI of a top team in the Premier League.
Manchester United have been linked with Guimarães. Arsenal expressed interest in Tonali in January, while Gordon was linked with a move to Liverpool two summers ago. None of these switches materialized, but it served to highlight the interest that existed in Newcastle’s brightest and best team.
Elliott Anderson remains in good form after leaving Newcastle (Image: Getty Images)
In an era where financial constraints carry some weight, as evidenced by the deductions previously given to clubs, executives must be prepared to make difficult, unpopular decisions, but there must be an element of long-term thinking behind them.
If Newcastle can’t live up to the likes of Manchester City and Arsenal, they’ll have to do something different. They sold what belonged to Elliott Anderson to Nottingham Forest in the summer of 2024 for £35m. Howe lamented his departure, claiming it was “a sale we didn’t want”, but felt financial rules meant he was “incentivized to sell Academy products”.
That cash represents a pure profit, but a similar, or perhaps even greater, profit could have been made had Newcastle chosen to cash in on one of their more established stars. You can’t keep everything, but creating your own talent is a way to break the PSR regulations. Will Andersson be as good or better than Guimarães or Tonali in three years? That possibility is increasing.
Louis Miley is heralded for big things, but he’s competing for the role with Sandro Tonali, who has a suitor on the market
Newcastle could find themselves in a similar scenario with Lewis Miley, a young midfielder who has all the makings of a future star. There will be interest in him, but there will also be interest in Tonali, for example.
Even trophy-winning clubs like City have brought in top players. Julian Alvarez is a great example. The initial blow of losing a star can be offset by the avenues it opens up, if you spend that money wisely.
PSR is certainly an obstacle for Newcastle, but it is not as immovable as it is sometimes made out to be. It can be a judicious combination of smart hiring and, in some cases, deciding that selling your best asset is just a step backwards in order to move multiple assets forward.
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