Premier League owner admits he was able to sign ‘fabulous’ player because of Newcastle’s ‘issues’

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The summer transfer window was full of issues for Newcastle United.

Once August 30th had passed, the big issue was that no major signings had arrived at St James’ Park.

Newcastle let Eddie Howe down by failing to improve his squad, and it has put the manager under real pressure to work with what he has got.

For a long time, it looked like Marc Guehi would join the club. However, the move collapsed, with Newcastle pulling out of the Guehi deal due to Crystal Palace’s £75million asking price.

That would have been far too much to spend, given Newcastle’s need to comply with profit and sustainability.

Newcastle had a PSR nightmare in June

Newcastle have been extremely careful not to overspend, in fear of not complying with PSR.

That was nearly a major issue for them earlier in the summer, with the Magpies desperately needing to make up a £70million shortfall to comply. Had they failed to bring enough money in, Newcastle would have been punished and received a points deduction.

That forced Newcastle to sell, and it resulted in the club having to cash in on Yankuba Minteh – just 12 months after joining the club.

Without ever kicking a ball for Newcastle, Minteh was sold to Brighton for £33million.

Brighton owner delighted to land Yankuba Minteh

Brighton took advantage of Newcastle’s financial situation, and their owner Tony Bloom has expressed his delight at being able to bring such a ‘fabulous’ player to the Amex Stadium.

“We are always within the limits and we will always be fine while I am chairman,” he told the Athletic.

“Certainly, we were aware of other clubs and other situations. We’ve had a very odd situation, which I think is a one-off this year, whereby certain clubs had to sell by June 30, which is the end of the year for most clubs’ accounts.

“Minteh was a player we had followed for a while. We were certainly aware of him a year ago when he went to Newcastle. He had a fabulous season [on loan at Feyenoord].

“We knew about that and that deadline and we were able to get him in; a superb player, a young player who will hopefully improve as well.

“We were able to do that at the end of June and that was because of the PSR issues that certain clubs had.”

Minteh is exactly what Newcastle United need

Due to Newcastle’s issues, Brighton now have one of the most exciting young wingers in the Premier League.

Minteh has started all three of the Seagulls’ Premier League games so far, and looks incredibly exciting. While it is clear that he is still very raw and needs to work on his end product, he is having a real impact and proving to be a real threat.

The more he develops, the better he will get. But the foundations for success are very much there, and it is painful to watch from a Newcastle United perspective.

While the deal was enforced due to the PSR situation, Jamie Carragher believes Newcastle will regret selling Minteh in years to come.

In truth, the regret is already there. Newcastle need a right winger, yet the type of player they were looking for had to be forced out of the club to comply with profit and sustainability.

And while Minteh thrives in a Brighton shirt, Newcastle will scour the market for a winger to come in and improve Eddie Howe’s squad.