Qualification for the Champions League will be absolutely huge for Newcastle United.
Bruno Guimaraes recently described a top four finish as the squad’s “obsession” and, now, they are just a point from doing so.
While Newcastle will be keen to finish their home campaign with a win over Leicester on Monday, they need to only draw with the Foxes to reach Europe’s elite competition for the first time in two decades.
Still, that might not have too much of an impact on the transfer window.
Naturally, many would surely expect to see Newcastle go all out to prepare a squad capable of competing both domestically and on the continent.
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Eddie Howe, however, has warned against expecting too much.
What Howe has said about Newcastle’s summer transfer budget
While the Newcastle boss is never likely to come out and suggest the club have many more millions to spend, he did appear to temper expectations somewhat during Friday’s pre-match press conference.
He said (via the Northern Echo): “Regardless of what happens, we’re not going to have a bottomless pit. We will be under tight constraints. Whatever we do in the transfer market, we’re going to have to be very smart.
“In the three transfer windows I’ve had, we’ve been excellent and we have to continue that.”
No matter what happens in the summer, Newcastle deserve trust
As Howe says, Newcastle have been excellent in the transfer market since the takeover.
Granted, supporters are yet to see the best of Anthony Gordon but Howe is hopeful pre-season can bring the best out of the former Everton winger.
No matter what happens in terms of budget or players brought in, recruitment staff deserve all the trust in the world this summer.
They have simply done too much good work to make any reactive judgements on what may come to be just yet.