The £52.5m reason why Newcastle United are now trying to copy Liverpool

Add as preferred source on Google

Newcastle United are trying to emulate clubs like Liverpool on and off the pitch.

PIF have ambitions to take Newcastle United to the top, but that is going to easier said than done due to the Magpies’ inability to splash the cash. While Newcastle United might have the richest owners, they are not the richest club.

This summer proved that, as they scrambled to comply with PSR and avoid a points deduction. The situation was so desperate that Newcastle almost sold Anthony Gordon to Liverpool.

Thankfully, Toon officials found another way. Yankuba Minteh and Elliot Anderson left for big money, with the former joining Brighton for £33million after not playing a single minute on Tyneside.

His transfer came on the back of an incredible loan spell at Feyenoord, with Newcastle making a huge profit on a player who had only just joined the club 12 months earlier.

It was sad to see Minteh leave, but it is the type of deal that could become the blueprint for how Paul Mitchell is going to operate in terms of recruitment.

Paul Mitchell’s new Newcastle United recruitment plan

According to iNews, Mitchell is very keen for Newcastle United to sign prospect players from ‘untapped markets’ as he begins to overhaul the Magpies’ recruitment strategy.

The plan with those players would be for them to go out on loan and either develop into first-team players at St James’ Park or become much more valuable and be sold on for a profit.

iNews note that Mitchell has used Liverpool as an example to justify why Newcastle should take this approach. Rather than sell any star players this summer, they brought in £52.5million by selling Fabio Carvalho and Sepp van den Berg to Brentford.

Newcastle United already searching for potential young signings

The Minteh deal is the perfect example of what Newcastle want to replicate on a consistent basis. That transfer got the Magpies out of a very difficult situation, even if it was a shame to lose such a talented youngster.

Not every young player will be brought to the club with the view to being sold. Some will make it into the first-team. Minteh would have done exactly that if Newcastle had someone else they could have sold.

But Mitchell is already making moves to implement his new plan, and it is a recruitment strategy that Eddie Howe backs.

Newcastle are set to sign Vakhtang Salia from Dinamo Tbilisi, who is a 17-year-old Georgian attacker. He comes from an emerging nation in world football, with Georgia now boasting exciting talents such as Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Giorgi Mamardashvili. The hope will be that Salia can emulate them.

Elsewhere, Newcastle have been looking at Richard King, who is a centre-back that currently plays in Jamaica and could be available for a very cheap fee.