Journalist Luke Edwards has shared what has disappointed him during Newcastle United’s January transfer window so far.
For most Premier League clubs it has been a very difficult month both in terms of incomings and outgoings thanks to the Profit and Sustainability Rules limiting what everyone can do.
Speaking on Transfer Gossip Daily, Edwards claimed that he can’t see anything happening at Newcastle in the final days of the January window with the club unable to buy and unwilling to sell.
Journalist says are Newcastle stuck in a difficult position
There’s certainly been a fair bit of interest in some of Newcastle’s players with Kieran Trippier, Callum Wilson and Miguel Almiron all wanted by other teams in the last couple of weeks.
Almiron looked to be the most likely to leave with Al Shabab and Al Ahli keen on the Paraguayan, but the player himself doesn’t want to leave Newcastle and Eddie Howe is hoping to keep his key man this month.
Newcastle have known all along that they, like everyone else, will have to sell if they want to bring anyone in, but there’s nobody they are really keen to get rid of in the middle of an important season.
It’s also difficult to sell to other clubs who have the very same problem, which leaves most in a tricky position where they can’t offload players and can’t bring new ones in.
On the show, Edwards said: “I’m disappointed two fold because I have been saying all month Newcastle were my club who were going to do something crazy, it was going to be dramatic and there was going to be a twist, a sprinkling of star dust on this transfer window.
“But I have also been saying that Newcastle need to sell to buy, they had to pull out of the Kalvin Phillips loan deal because he went to West Ham because of financial issues and that was only a £6 or £7 million loan deal.
“That [Almiron staying] has probably ended Newcastle’s interest in this window. You never say never, a bid could come in for another player, they could suddenly find £50 million down the back of their Saudi Arabian sofa but I don’t think that will happen because of profit and sustainability rules and everything we are led to believe is that they are at their limit.”
Newcastle prepared for uneventful January
There was so much optimism heading into this window after what had been a disappointing and frustrating couple of months after the long list of injuries and exits from both the Champions League and Carabao Cup.
Newcastle supporters had hoped that there would at least be some investment into a new player who could help the team out in the second half of the season, just something to get excited about like Anthony Gordon last season.
However, it was always a possibility that Newcastle would do nothing in the window, aside from the departure of Javier Manquillo, and would just be looking to get players back from injury.
At this point the return of Harvey Barnes will be like a new signing given how little he’s played so far, but it’s still frustrating from a fans perspective to see the club unable to really challenge in the market.
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