NEWCASTLE UNITED delivered a fierce hands-off warning to Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City over stars Alexander Isak and Bruno Guimaraes.
In a remarkable change of tune from 12 months ago, when the club warned fans it might have to sell one of its star assets to meet Prem PSR rules, chief executive Darren Eales said there was NO way any of Eddie Howe’s main men would have to go this summer.
GettyNewcastle want to keep Alexander Isak at St James Park[/caption]
GettyThe club have issued a hands-off warning to clubs interested in their stars[/caption]
GettyEddie Howe’s men are chasing another top four finish this season[/caption]
And he also insisted Saudi owners PIF are ready to “spend to the max” to try and make the Magpies champions.
Eales on Tuesday unveiled the club’s accounts for last term showing a loss of £11.1m – despite revenues enjoying a 28 per cent increase to a record £320.3m – a figure way down from the previous year’s £73.4m.
That means they are not at risk of breaching Prem FFP rules and there is no compulsion to sell.
Eales said: “We’re in a position now where because of the fact we were able to move a couple of players in January (2024) that weren’t really impacting on minutes on the pitch.
“We’ve got that wish and desire to keep our key players, they’re all under long-term contracts.
“So from that perspective we have no intention at all of those players being moved on, and we’re not under the gun or anything like that.
“We’ve got an ownership that is ambitious, wants the best for the club. So from that perspective, it’d be crazy for us to consider it.”
On the constant links with Toon’s top stars being chased by Prem rivals, especially 22-goal top scorer Isak, Eales said: “It is part of football.
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“You would rather have people talking about players than not in the sense we know he is a world class player and he is somebody, obviously, other clubs would covet because he is an incredible player.
“It is part and parcel of the world we live in, but it is frustrating. It is part of what football is, everybody wants to have a story and talk about it.
“But when you think about the growth of Newcastle we have the ambition to be a top club.
“There is a sense of annoyance as we are almost seen as the next category down and it is fair game to talk about our players but we are striving as a club to be at the top table.
“We want our best players here and to be honest it shows the value Isak has that they talk about him all the time.”
He continued: “The reality is that all of our players are under long-term deals.
“They’re committed to the club. So, from that perspective, we’re not looking to move any player on.”
And Eales even confirmed our reports that they will be looking to tie down the £150m-rated Swedish hotshot to a new deal.
The chief said: “We’re going to be clear – he has multiple years left so all of these things, we will have the discussions in terms of a new deal just like we did with, whether it’s Joelinton, Bruno or Anthony Gordon.
“That’s something that we will approach in the summer.”
Frustrated fans, and boss Eddie Howe, have had to endure three difficult transfer windows in which no major additions were made to bolster the starting XI.
However, after cutting cloth accordingly to avoid breaching PSR rules and a new spending cycle set to begin, plus upcoming updates on stadium and training ground plans, Eales assured supporters that their Saudi owners were still as keen as ever to take them to the very top.
Though he was reluctant to go all-out and promise a transfer war chest for Howe this summer in order to avoid prices being hiked up for potential targets.
My View – ‘Toon are daring to dream’
By Gary Stonehouse
THE TOON ARMY are daring to dream again after Darren Eales revealed the latest club accounts.
And finally excitement can start building again over Newcastle’s rise under the Saudis after the growing pains of recent times.
Key mega-money decisions over the stadium and a new training ground are due to be confirmed over the coming months.
But it is the players on the pitch that fans are most interested in rather than generational moves regarding a redevelopment or building of a brand-spanking home from scratch.
Despite being the richest club on the planet, frustrations have mounted for the past 18 months over a lack of investment in the playing squad.
And the PSR issues hindering their route to the top, coupled with continual interest in the likes of star man Alexander Isak, has led to tensions mounting amongst supporters.
But in a clear message, after three tedious and problematic transfer windows, it looks like boss Eddie Howe will finally feel the benefit of the Saudi dollar once more.
Unlike last year when the club conceded they could have to sell a major star in order to avoid spending sanctions, the message from the CEO this time is loud and clear that their top talents are going nowhere.
After the penny-pinching and player exits that has left Howe with a threadbare squad, Newcastle are also ready to bolster his playing staff again.
The amount of his transfer kitty will depend on whether he can lead them into the Champions League for the second time in three seasons.
And, naturally, Eales played it coy on a potential war chest being opened as they look to avoid the inevitable ‘Newcastle Tax’ being increased by selling clubs.
But his declaration that Saudis remain as ambitious as ever and will “spend to the max” to achieve their dream of Newcastle eventually becoming champions is exactly what every Magpie wanted to hear.
The pesky PSR hurdle might still make that dream a while off, Howe is just days away from potentially ending the 70-year wait for major silverware with next week’s Carabao Cup Final looming.
And that prospect, along with the soon-to-be announced details regarding the stadium and training ground, means 2025 is shaping up to be the biggest year yet in the famous old club’s distinguished history.
He declared: “We have been clear on this, ownership has committed to spending to the maximum amount we can within the rules.
“If the rules weren’t there we’d spend more. Because they are an ambitious ownership group that is looking to drive Newcastle to be sustainable and competing for trophies.
“Ultimately we want to be winning the Premier League – but we have to do it within the constraints of what we have.”
Eales added: “From my perspective, and I deal with them day to day, they are 100 per cent committed to Newcastle.
“That’s the exciting part, there is no change in terms of where we want to get to.
“The one thing we’d say is that we have to do that within the regulatory regime that is there.
How Howe turned Toon around WITHOUT Saudi billions
EDDIE HOWE has got “the richest club in the world” fighting for honours regularly again despite not being able to blow the big Saudi bucks.
The 47-year-old achieved legendary status at Bournemouth by guiding the then-skint Cherries all the way from League Two into the Premier League promised land.
Now he is potentially on the verge of writing his name into Newcastle’s history books if he can end their 70-year wait for a major trophy.
Howe came mightily close two years ago when he and the Magpies suffered heartbreak in the Carabao Cup final against Manchester United.
Qualifying for the Champions League with a fourth-placed finish softened that blow, and now he is eyeing more than just another Wembley outing as he takes Toon to Arsenal for the first-leg of the Carabao Cup semis.
Of course, it has been nothing like those early days at Bournemouth for Howe since he took charge in November 2021 just weeks after their Saudi takeover.
There was a big outlay that January transfer window in order to assure the club’s Premier League status, but despite reaching the Champions League, PSR rules have delayed their path straight to football’s top table.
Though, despite the purse strings being tightened and even being forced to sell young starlets against his wishes, Howe still has Newcastle punching with the big boys for silverware.
The question is though – how has he done it and how far can he go?
“At the moment, the way we approach from ownership down – and everyone is aligned – is that we maximise our revenues and with that we spend to the max we’re allowed to, so we incur those losses of £105m over three years to give Eddie and the team the best possible players on the pitch that he wants.
“We’re in alignment in terms of how we build that squad.
“It’s frustrating because we want to go from A to B in three years, but we can’t do what was done in the past.
“The days of an Abramovich or Man City in the early days, you just can’t do that anymore. You can front load the spend, but you have to pay the piper.
“We have to be strategic and say the way we’ve approached it is that yes, we got to the Champions League quicker than what anyone thought, but the most important thing after that was keeping our key players and that was the approach that we took.”
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