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Eddie Howe has insisted Newcastle United will not pay “silly” money to further strengthen their squad at the same time as admitting they may have to sell in January.
The Magpies open their new Premier League campaign at home to Southampton on Saturday still locked in negotiations with Crystal Palace over their £65million-rated England defender Marc Guehi, the kind of marquee signing which has so far eluded the club this summer.
Head coach Howe declined to comment on reports that a fourth bid had been tabled for the player and revealed there was “nothing close” on the transfer front.
But asked if there was a point where Newcastle, who have spent in excess of £400million since Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund bought a controlling 80 per cent stake in October 2021, would walk away from a deal, he replied: “We have done many times in my time here.
“Especially early on where there was very much a ‘Newcastle tax’ on any deal where when we would ring up, the price would double, so many times we were, ‘No, that’s not for us, we’re not going to go down that road where we feel we’re overpaying for players’.
“That’s changed slightly because people have seen the dynamic, that we’re not going to pay silly fees for players, so I think now it’s returned more to normality.”
The Magpies have had to tip-toe through a financial minefield in the last year or so in order to meet profitability and sustainability rules, and have reluctantly sold promising youngsters Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh this summer in an attempt to stay within the boundaries.
That has enabled them – to date, at least – to fend off interest in the likes of Alexander Isak, Bruno Guimaraes and Anthony Gordon, although Howe admits the club will have to trade once again.
He said: “There’s not necessarily financial pressures to lose anybody before the end of this window, but player trading is key and we have to trade players out as well as players in.
“That’s not necessarily in the next two weeks. But certainly, within the next window, that’s what we’ll have to do.”
Howe is no stranger to having to wheel and deal having launched his managerial career at then cash-strapped Bournemouth, and he admits that was a good grounding for dealing with his current predicament.
He said: “The situation, of course, here is totally different to that. Here we’re restricted in our spending because of financial fair play rules which we have to respect, we have to adhere to.
“I’ve got no issue with dealing and working with the restrictions that we’re under, but the expectations then have to be adjusted to the reality of the world we’re living in.
“Sometimes there’s a misalignment, there’s constantly talking about ‘the richest club in the world’ and we’ve got all this money. But we’re not allowed to spend it, so expectations have to be adjusted, in my opinion.”
