Eddie Howe has indicated Newcastle will do everything in their power to resist a proposed new Premier League rule that would prevent teams from signing players on loan from associated clubs.
A temporary ban will be voted on by clubs on 21 November and would block Howe from borrowing players from the four Saudi Arabian clubs owned, like Newcastle, by the Gulf kingdom’s Public Investment Fund. That would rule out a move for, among others, Al-Hilal’s Rúben Neves.
Although Howe was reluctant to be drawn on the specifics of Newcastle’s resistance plan, he said when asked whether the club would fight such changes: “You can make that assumption.”
With Newcastle’s £55m marquee summer signing, the Italy midfielder Sandro Tonali, banned for 10 months, Howe is anxious to sign a replacement in January. Neves, formerly of Wolves, has been widely touted as the most likely recruit.
“He’s a player we liked when he was at Wolves,” said Howe, who disagreed with a suggestion that the Portugal international may be unsuited to Newcastle’s high-energy pressing philosophy. “I believe that players can adapt to different styles,” he said. “I’ve got no doubt about that.”
Although it is possible Howe is using Neves as a smokescreen while he pursues another target, he does not want to see his scope for transfer-market manoeuvre restricted. “We will work within whatever rules the Premier League set and we have to respect those rules,” he said. “We just have to react to the changes. But I will leave you to decide why those rules are coming in.”
As Howe prepared to return to Bournemouth on Saturday he seemed a little frustrated that that the VAR controversy surrounding Anthony Gordon’s winning goal at home to Arsenal last Saturday had deflected attention from the quality of Newcastle’s victory against Mikel Arteta’s side. Afterwards the Arsenal manager launched into a rant against the application of VAR which Howe – whose relationship with his counterpart is slightly frosty – felt was unhelpful. “The whole storm around the goal took all the noise,’ he said. “I don’t think my players got the credit they deserved for their performance.”
Bournemouth’s manager, Andoni Iraola, welcomed Howe to his former club, Rayo Vallecano, when the latter was between jobs and demonstrated the intricacies of Rayo’s ferocious pressing game. Newcastle play a broadly similar style but Howe said of his trip: “I don’t think it was a big watershed. My vision of the way I want my team to play has evolved and changed but my core principles haven’t.” He described Iraola as “not just a very good coach but a very good person”.
Newcastle will be without at least 10 senior players, including the suspended Bruno Guimarães. Callum Wilson faces a test on a hamstring problem which could force the striker’s withdrawal from the England squad.
