Financial Fair Play (FFP) laws have changed, and one of the teams who are set to be severely affected this upcoming summer transfer window has to be Newcastle United.
Newcastle United have been plagued by FFP since the PIF takeover, and it’s about to get worse in the coming months.
Eddie Howe‘s side will have to navigate the Premier League‘s new ‘Profit and Sustainability Rules,’ or PSR for short.
Here’s how it’ll affect the transfer plans on Tyneside this summer.
What are the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR)?
Simply put, when every Premier League team tots up their annual accounts, they can have made a loss no greater than £105m across the previous three seasons.
However, there are lots of sub-clauses added to this which make the situation entirely more complicated. Sky Sports listed these include:
- Clubs can only lose £15m of their own money across those three years. So that’s no more than £15m extra on outgoings like transfer fees, player wages, paying off former managers etc compared to their income from TV payments, season tickets, selling players and so on.
- Anything above that, up to the £105m barrier, must be guaranteed by their owners buying up shares, known as ‘secure funding’, and essentially means bankrolling the club.
- In those circumstances, the Premier League require clubs to submit their financial plans for the next two seasons and how they are going to avoid overstepping the mark.
- For sides who have spent any of the last three seasons in the EFL, owners can only put in £8m of secure funding for those years, leaving an overall maximum annual loss of £13m for the campaigns in question.
The new system aims to stop overnight tycoon success stories, much like that of Manchester City, where a team goes from mid-table to title contender in a matter of years.
In simpler terms, the more revenue a club gets, the more money their side has to spend on transfer fees and wages. This is bad news for Newcastle United.
How will FFP affect Newcastle United this summer?
Thanks to Newcastle’s frivolous spending over the past few years, they are now facing some financial woes due to FFP.
Particularly with players obtained for large fees, the new rules mean they rapidly depreciate in value.
This means that Eddie Howe’s side now may have to sell key players to comply with Premier League financial rules.
Newcastle’s CEO Darren Eales suggested that if the club aims to maintain their upward trajectory in English football, they may have to sell this summer. He said:
“If we’re going to get to where we want to get to, at times it is necessary to trade your players.”
Reports have also suggested that the club’s higher-ups are keen to fund a spending spree this summer to improve Newcastle United’s first-team squad amid a lacklustre 23/24 campaign.
Essentially, to spend big, they’re going to have to sell big. So who’s in the firing line?
Who could Newcastle United sell to help with FFP?
The Magpies do have a number of big names they could put up on the chopping block to obtain funds. These include:
- Bruno Guimaraes
- Sean Longstaff
- Alexander Isak
- Miguel Almiron
Bruno Guimaraes and Alexander Isak would make sense to make the most money – but they’re arguably the Geordies’ two top performers at St James’ Park.
Given Sean Longstaff is an academy product, he is simply pure profit – so he may be a decent one to rid of.
Miguel Almiron is probably the wisest of shouts. Given Saudi Pro League side Al-Shabab had a lucrative offer for him last summer, and the fact he may need replacing on Tyneside, he’s a good way of recuperating some much-needed cash.
It’s going to be a strange summer for Newcastle. Best believe they’ll be incomings and outgoings aplenty.
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