Eddie Howe admits he never wanted to sell £23m Newcastle player but he went anyway

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Newcastle United might have to sell to buy in the near future, which is something they did in 2023.

There is a lot of talk about financial fair play or profit and sustainability rules at Newcastle United right now. It is hindering their efforts in the January transfer window, with the club very mindful of not overspending.

That is of no use to Eddie Howe, who is keen to add fresh faces to a squad that has been decimated by injuries during what has been a challenging season so far.

The summer transfer window did not go to plan, with the majority of Newcastle’s signings have little to no impact. That is largely been due to reasons beyond Newcastle’s control, but it has created an issue on Tyneside.

It is becoming harder and harder for the owners to invest in the squad, leading to speculation that a major player like Bruno Guimaraes might have to leave the club. That would be absolutely devastating, but it would free up a lot of funds to be reinvested back into the squad.

Trading players is a big part of football nowadays, and Eddie Howe is no stranger to it.

Eddie Howe wanted to keep Allan Saint-Maximin at Newcastle

He has spoke about player trading during an interview with TalkSPORT, and made reference to the fact that he did it last year when Allan Saint-Maximin left the club. That is despite the fact that Howe wanted to keep him.

“It’s difficult to comment on individual players but player trading, if you look at Man City or Arsenal, they have traded players. Not between each other but in recent windows,“ he said.

“We have done that ourselves with Allan Saint-Maximin, a player we didn’t want to sell but we had to last summer. That will continue to be the case, that will give us the opportunity to keep things fresh.“

Selling Saint-Maximin made sense for Newcastle

Newcastle sold Allan Saint-Maximin to Al Ahli during the summer transfer window. He joined the Saudi Arabian club for £23million, which resulted in an emotional goodbye to the Toon Army.

A lot of fans were sad to see him go, and so was Howe. He has stated that he wanted to keep Maxi on Tyneside, but it was something that they had to do.

The Frenchman was replaced by Harvey Barnes, and his departure opened the door for Tino Livramento to arrive. He has been a revelation since joining, which Newcastle will no doubt see as vindication for their decision to let Saint-Maximin go.

They could find themselves in the same position this summer, with another popular player possibly departing. This time it could be someone even more influential, such as Bruno or Alexander Isak.

While Saint-Maximin was adored at Newcastle, it would be even worse to see someone like Bruno or Isak go. ASM was popular, but he was not necessarily fit for purpose in Howe’s side. He was a sensible one to cash in on, as he recouped a fair bit of money without massively disrupting the team.

But the team would be massively disrupted if someone like Bruno left, so let’s hope it does not come to that.