Newcastle United could certainly do with the January transfer window.
In the midst of an injury crisis and having lost big summer signing Sandro Tonali to a ban from football, Newcastle were barely able to string much of a team together in the losses to Borussia Dortmund and Bournemouth before the international break.
Unsurprisingly, midfield is believed to be the main priority heading into the New Year sales. Only Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes have arrived to strengthen that position since the takeover and the Italian’s ban leaves Eddie Howe light.
Elsewhere, a new forward is also thought to be on the agenda.
Now, however, noted transfer insider David Ornstein has provided a rather bleak update on what he sees happening for Newcastle in January.
Newcastle transfer news: David Ornstein shares January latest
Having previously talked of the Financial Fair Play (FFP) issues that continue to linger, Ornstein was asked how “big” Newcastle could go in January during a Q&A on The Athletic.
“Not as big as I suspect they would like,” he replied.
“Those four words: profit and sustainability rules (PSR).
“Amazon’s Newcastle documentary makes repeated references to financial fair play (FFP) and, clearly, they are taking it extremely seriously. We can see that in the deals they’ve done so far and that prudence will have to continue, especially if they don’t make it through to the Champions League knockout stage.
“The failed vote to block associated party loan signings in January is good news for Newcastle in theory but, in practice, I’m not sure they will actually make any/many signings from other clubs in majority owner PIF’s stable. Certainly, barring an unforeseen turn of events, I don’t expect Ruben Neves to arrive.”
Newcastle transfers: Hard to expect miracles in January
Though PIF have invested in every window thus far, it may be best to temper expectations in January.
Kalvin Phillips, on paper at least, looks a reasonably realistic signing should the club have enough wiggle room on the FFP front but links with the likes of Victor Osimhen would appear to be out of reach.
Howe and his coaching staff have a job to do to get Newcastle firing again and it seems he may not be able to bank on a raft of new signings.
Luckily, everything about what they’ve done thus far would suggest they’re more than capable of that very task.
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