The January transfer window is already proving to be a rollercoaster for Newcastle United, and it isn’t even open yet.
A lot of the talk has been about a centre-midfielder arriving to fill the void left by Sandro Tonali, who is banned until August 2024.
Ruben Neves has been one of the leading candidates, with Newcastle considering a loan move for the Portugal international.
That looked straightforward, with Neves’ club Al Hilal owned by PIF, just like Newcastle. However, that is where the problems started.
Talk of a loan deal led to the Premier League’s members deciding to vote on a temporary ban on clubs loaning players from clubs with the same owner. If the ban was put in place, Newcastle would not be able to sign Neves on loan.
It felt likely that the ban would be approved by the Premier League’s members, and that looked set to be the case.
However, there has now been another twist.
Newcastle might not be banned from signing Ruben Neves on loan
Daily Mail reporter Craig Hope has taken to X (formerly known as Twitter) to provide an update on the vote, and he believes that the ban is not actually going to be approved.
He wrote: “Early indication is that Premier League clubs will NOT vote in favour of a temporary block on related-party loans, meaning clubs with same owners are free to trade in January. Confirmation awaited from Premier League.”
Newcastle have another problem
If this is the case then Newcastle will be able to try and sign Neves on loan from Al Hilal when the January transfer window opens.
But while there will be nothing legally stopping Newcastle from borrowing the 26-year-old, another issue emerged on Tuesday.
It has been reported that Neves is now expected to stay at Al Hilal, with the midfielder settled at the Saudi Arabian club and happy to stay where he is.
That is a complete u-turn, as it had been claimed that he wanted to leave and return to the Premier League.
This was when it looked like Newcastle would not be able to loan him. Now it looks like they will be able to, but he is seemingly going nowhere.
This is turning out to be a wild ride, as always seems to be the case with Newcastle United. Now we wait to see if there are any more twists and turns…
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