What’s next for Newcastle after an underwhelming summer?

• Newcastle United didn’t make any flagship signings this summer after their seventh-place finish in the Premier League last season.
• They won’t be playing in Europe this season, but have had to be careful to avoid falling foul of financial regulations.The likes of Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh were sold to raise around £65 million.
• Manager Eddie Howe was linked with the England head coach job over the summer.

It’s approaching three years since Newcastle United was taken over by a consortium comprising Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, RB Sports & Media, and PCP Capital Partners.

After avoiding relegation in the 2021-22 season, Newcastle went on to finish fourth a season later, and finished seventh last time around. While the battle for European football is fierce, with the traditional ‘Big Six’ in the mix as well as the likes of Aston Villa and Brighton & Hove Albion in recent seasons, there are plenty of reasons for the Magpies to remain hopeful.

However, many fans are somewhat underwhelmed after the summer the club has just had.

From busy windows to a lack of first-team signings

In their first transfer window under the new ownership, in January 2022, the club spent around £90 million on Bruno Guimarães, Chris Wood, Dan Burn and Kieran Trippier, as well as Matt Targett on loan, the incoming arrivals becoming new manager Eddie Howe’s first signings.

That summer, the club broke their transfer record to sign Alexander Isak for £63m and also bought Sven Botman for £30m. Targett joined permanently, while Nick Pope also arrived. In the January transfer window, Anthony Gordon became a Newcastle player.

More exciting signings came last summer in the form of Sandro Tonali, Yankuba Minteh, Harvey Barnes and Tino Livramento, while Lewis Hall joined on loan from Chelsea, but it’s been pretty quiet since then. There was just one signing in the winter window, teenager Alfie Harrison from Manchester City.

And this summer, it’s the outgoings that have caught the eye more than anyone else coming in. Minteh has moved on after just a year, going to Brighton for £30m, making a tidy £24m profit, while Elliot Anderson has moved to Nottingham Forest for £35m.

Hall has joined permanently from Chelsea for £28m, while £15m has been spent on the Sheffield United striker William Osula. Lloyd Kelly and John Ruddy have joined on free transfers from Bournemouth and Birmingham City respectively, while Odysseas Vlachodimos has signed from Forest, but none of these signings are on the same level as an Isak, Guimaräes, or Tonali.  

Still a strong team

Make no mistake, Newcastle have a strong squad, and they’ll be playing fewer games this season as they didn’t qualify for any European competitions last term, something they struggled with last season after playing in the Champions League for the first time in two decades.

Tonali is back after his ban relating to breaches of the FA’s betting rules, while Newcastle’s exciting young players are all another year older. Barnes will hope to remain injury-free this season, too, and get a full campaign under his belt, and Isak will want another campaign with 20+ goals. Then there’s Botman, Livramento, Gordon, Joelinton… 

Issues to manage over the season

One of the main issues Newcastle has, that Man City and Chelsea didn’t when they first got money, is the added competition at the top of the table. The ‘Big Four’ that used to carve up the top four spots between themselves every year for most of the 2000s is now a bigger group, and each year there are going to be some great teams missing out on those coveted Champions League places.

It would be a surprise to see any of Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool miss out on the top four. That leaves one space for Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea, Manchester United, Newcastle, and clubs like Villa and Brighton. Almost half of the entire Premier League could feasibly break into the Champions League places. Someone has to miss out.

And then, of course, there are the Financial Fair Play rules, which prevented Newcastle from making any marquee signings this summer. The sales of Minteh and Anderson helped the club generate funds ahead of the June 30 deadline to submit balance sheets to stop them falling foul of the rules, but the money simply isn’t there to make any more big-name signings unless the club wants to breach the rules.

If Newcastle want to make any huge signings, they’d need to sell one of their best players, which they’re also unlikely to do.

Managerial stability?

There might still be slight question marks over Howe’s future at the club, too. While he’s said this summer that he’s “committed”, “happy” and “feels supported” in his role, he was touted as a leading contender to take over from Gareth Southgate as England manager.

Lee Carsley became interim head coach, stepping up from the U21s, and could yet remain in the post in the longer term, but should the FA decide to go in a different direction at some point, Howe is one of the most highly-rated, successful current English managers.

If Man United sack Erik ten Hag this season, Howe could be in contention. Newcastle sporting director Dan Ashworth made the move west to Manchester at the start of July, but all the other English clubs which would be seen as a step-up or a sideways step from Newcastle have managers in fairly stable positions. So, he’ll likely remain with the Magpies for now.

All this isn’t to say that Newcastle can’t continue to improve. They haven’t necessarily peaked yet, but it might take them a little longer than it did Man City, for example, as they have to be more careful. This year, could they take advantage of no European football and the continued chaos at Man United and Chelsea and creep back into the top four? It wouldn’t be impossible.

But if Newcastle can make it back into Europe for next season, and perhaps get to, or win, a domestic cup final, this season would surely have to be considered a success.

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