Newcastle CEO Darren Eales admits the club may need to sell their star players to achieve their ambition of breaking into the Premier League’s top six.
After Saudi Arabia’s Private Investment Fund, worth an estimated £700bn, took over Newcastle in 2021, Amanda Staveley told Sky Sports News the aim was for the club to win the Premier League in the next five to 10 years.
But the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) appear to have tempered those expectations.
Eales, speaking after Newcastle announced losses of £73.4m in their latest financial results, admitted every player has a price under the current rules, which he says make it challenging for an ‘upwardly mobile club’.
Darren Eales says every player has a price, including the likes of Alexander Isak
Asked directly whether Alexander Isak, Sven Botman or Bruno Guimaraes could be sold, Eales said: “On any player, at any time, it depends on circumstances. It’s difficult to hypothesis but, if we’re offered £1bn for one of those players, then no-one could argue against that making sense.
“Any decision we make will always be against the backdrop of the medium to long-term benefit for the club. It’s difficult to say specifically on certain players, but I can say that, if we’re going to get to where we want to get to, at times it is necessary to trade your players.
“Whether that is because of the contract length of the player in question, the offer is too good to refuse, you need to reload in certain areas, but all of this could make sense to trade that player. It is counter-intuitive and part of the inherent system of PSR that there is an incentive to trade your players if you want to re-invest, by the nature of the boundaries.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Speaking to Sky Sports News after taking over at Newcastle, Amanda Staveley admitted the Premier League title is a long-term target for the new owners
Asked if under PSR every player has a price, Eales said: “Yes.”
The Newcastle CEO explained that even though it seems counterintuitive, under the current rules, clubs can create more opportunities for investment if they sell players, citing examples at Liverpool, Aston Villa and West Ham.
“If you are churning players you create more headroom,” said Eales. “We have seen lots of examples of this elsewhere. [Philippe] Coutinho at Liverpool and they brought in Allison and Virgil Van Dijk. [Jack] Grealish going from Aston Villa and they have reinvested and reloaded.
“Decan Rice at West Ham, it’s just the nature of the beast. If you trade players on it creates more headroom . You have to keep growing that headroom, increasing commercial revenue and player trading.”
Declan Rice was cited as one example of clubs selling players in order to reinvest in their squad
Eales says Newcastle won’t make any “kneejerk reactions” in the January transfer window but did not rule out signings this month.
“It’s a difficult window to get value when you’re in the middle of the season and you are trying to bring quality in. Clubs aren’t willing to, or are less willing in January, to lose those types of players.
“Summer is always better from a value and a planning perspective. Secondly, we have had a number of injuries and we have got some very good players coming back in the second half of the season. We have that aspect as well when we look at the squad and talk about strengthening, we have players coming back who will have an impact.
“That will be the first couple of things, but like everything, we have to approach it on the medium to long term basis rather than kneejerk reactions.
“You have seen from the accounts the level of investment in the squad. We always have to be mindful of the PSR stuff and making sure we are always going to be compliant long term.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Who are the Premier League’s cult heroes? We have a few suggestions – take a look at some of Hatem Ben Arfa, Adel Taarabt and Michu’s best bits
“For us, Jan isn’t a great window for us to be doing business. That doesn’t mean we won’t do any business, as we saw with AG last year. It’s difficult to do any major surgery.”
Asked if there is a potential to take any players on loan from Saudi Arabia’s Pro League, he said: “No, there is no intention as things stand to do any loans from the PIF clubs in Saudi Arabia.”
On sporting director Dan Ashworth’s links to Manchester United, he added: “So obviously Dan, he’s spoke on the record recently about being happy in the project. We go back to our days at West Bromwich Albion where we worked together. Dan’s done a great job, there’s a lot more work to be done and we’re hopeful he’s here for the long term. He’s certainly enjoying his time at the moment.”
