Newcastle United are in a difficult position ahead of the January transfer window.
While Newcastle will reportedly soon open talks with Manchester City in an attempt to bring Kalvin Phillips to the club on loan, permanent signings may be difficult to pull off.
Indeed, FFP limitations are believed to remain and that’s even before thinking about the negative impact going out of the Champions League may have on the transfer budget.
Though Eddie Howe could certainly do with reinforcement following an injury crisis, permanent signings in January would seemingly come at a cost.
Newcastle transfer news: What would happen if club spent big in January
According to The Daily Telegraph, breaking the bank next month would leave Newcastle in an even worse position in the summer window.
Such is the balancing act the club are having to manage with FFP, Newcastle would “almost certainly” have to sell one of their big names at the end of the season were they to make many permanent signings in January.
Bruno Guimaraes, Sven Botman and Alexander Isak are the players mentioned in the report.
Newcastle transfers: Sell to buy might be necessary
The notion of selling a big name in order to unlock the necessary funds for other signings has previously been mentioned by David Ornstein too, so can hardly be dismissed out of hand.
Clearly, the idea of losing any of those three would be extremely worrying.
Still, Guimaraes has been linked away and is believed to have a release clause in his contract, so perhaps he would be the one to go.
In an ideal world, the Brazilian – rated so highly by the owners – would remain a Newcastle player for years to come.
However, of the three players mentioned, he’s the one with the most noise surrounding him.
At some point, Guimaraes might have to go.
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