Inside Newcastle Q&A: Transfer policy, Guehi interest – and predicting the run-in

Sports

add

Once a week (mostly) for an hour during the Premier League season, The Athletic’s Newcastle United subscribers can ask our writers covering the club for views and insight into what’s happening at St James’ Park.

Here we have pulled together some of the questions and our answers from Monday’s edition of our Inside Newcastle live Q&A, which included queries about whether Marc Guehi and James Trafford remain priority transfer targets, whether Eddie Howe’s side will secure Champions League football and how the club feel William Osula is developing.

Want to ask us anything Newcastle-related? Chris Waugh will be back on Monday at 2pm BST (9am EST) for another session.

Will Newcastle be active in the pre-Club World Cup transfer window in June? Or is it a case of wait until July for any incomings? — Jamie S

Waugh: There is a chance that Newcastle may be active during that window, but it will largely be dependent upon who is potentially available and whether they qualify for the Champions League.

If a club has some PSR (the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules) issues and Newcastle sense an opportunity to capitalise and snatch a potential (relative) bargain, then they may act. Multiple Bournemouth players are admired, for example — Antoine Semenyo, Justin Kluivert, Illya Zabarnyi and Dean Huijsen, although the latter has a release clause anyway — and, should the south-coast club require sales before June 30, then Newcastle may look to act.

Outlining Newcastle’s exact PSR position is difficult because we do not have access to up-to-date figures. Some inside the club have suggested there is scope to make incomings before the end of the financial year, whereas others have played down that likelihood.

Certainly, Newcastle do not need to sell before the end of June as things stand, although there is also the possibility that they could sell to buy. That seems unlikely, given the extremely short nature of the early-June window. Newcastle are planning to be busy this summer and most, if not all, of their business is expected to take place during the longer ‘second’ window, rather than the pre-Club World Cup one. But do not entirely rule out the possibility of one or two deals then.

Do the club plan on going back for Guehi, or have other targets moved ahead? — Jonathan H

Waugh: Newcastle remain convinced that Guehi would be an ideal addition and would strengthen their first XI and they have continued to monitor him closely. Part of the reason why they would have spent big on him last summer — if not at the £60million-plus ($80.3m) price that was mooted, then potentially at £50m-plus — and risked having to make further sales is because several senior figures felt he was a long-term solution to their right-sided centre-back position.

That viewpoint has not changed, at least for some influential voices internally, and so Guehi continues to feature heavily in the club’s thinking. But much will depend on competition — Newcastle are unlikely to want to enter a bidding war — and Crystal Palace’s stance, because any offers will be lower than last summer, given Guehi is going to be down to the final year of his contract.

Other defenders have been watched in the Premier League and across Europe, with exhaustive due diligence performed, and Huijsen is just one considered. With Newcastle’s centre-backs aged 30 or over, Sven Botman (25) aside, their age profile requires lowering and future-proofing.

For now, although recruitment long lists are being whittled down, specific targets for each position are not yet fully determined and are unlikely to be until Newcastle discover whether they will be playing Champions League football. Guehi is still of keen interest, but an attempt to revive a deal is not necessarily inevitable.

Newcastle still hold an interest in Palace’s Marc Guehi (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

Does Burnley getting promoted change anything regarding going for Trafford? — Michael S

Waugh: Newcastle are definitely in the market for a goalkeeper — Martin Dubravka and Odysseas Vlachodimos may be among those to leave — and Trafford is someone their recruitment department have closely tracked since his Manchester City youth days, and someone they attempted to sign last summer.

The club’s desire to bring the 22-year-old in has not diminished — if anything, it has intensified, following his 29 Championship clean sheets and consistently outstanding performances for Burnley — but, as with Guehi, it is not as simple as Newcastle just going out and acquiring Trafford because they want to.

While there was little firm competition for Trafford last summer, plenty of potential suitors have emerged. Also, Burnley are in a stronger negotiating position now they are back in the top flight, and Trafford can also expect to command a higher salary a year on, too.

So, yes, it has changed the situation to an extent, but a deal was not necessarily that close to being concluded anyway. He is a player Newcastle are expected to revisit trying to sign, but there are alternatives being considered. Promotion does not alter anything definitively, even if it makes it a little harder to acquire Trafford.

Come on Chris, give us your predictions for the remaining fixtures. No fence-sitting — Jack C

Waugh: I’ve just removed the spelks (or splinters, for those non-Geordie speakers) from my backside and I’ll make some predictions…

Brighton & Hove Albion 1-1 Newcastle United

Predicting 1-1 feels foolish, given Howe’s side have not drawn a league game since December 4, but Brighton are a bogey team and Newcastle’s record on the south coast is poor.

Newcastle United 3-1 Chelsea

There will be nerves at St James’ Park ahead of this one, but the atmosphere should be electric, despite the ludicrous 12pm Sunday kick-off, and the occasion should inspire Newcastle to victory.

Arsenal 2-1 Newcastle United

The only defeat I’m predicting for Newcastle before the season is out and, while Arsenal could become distracted if they reach the Champions League final, Mikel Arteta is also desperate to get one over on Howe, who has outcoached him recently.

Newcastle United 2-1 Everton

Fate will be in Newcastle’s hands on the final day (he says with no degree of confidence whatsoever) and, although Everton will take the lead and make everyone jumpy, Howe’s men will deliver a thrilling late show.

Final position: Fourth

While third is likely to prove beyond Newcastle, I do think they will have enough to secure Champions League football.

* N.B. My predictions are usually woeful.

Will Newcastle succeed where they failed in October and beat Everton? (Matt McNulty/Getty Images)

What makes William Osula “extremely raw” (from Saturday’s update). He seems similar to Liam Delap in terms of style, and based on what I saw of both on Saturday I know which one I’d prefer. I’d love to understand what development is needed — Ma J

Waugh: Although I get the Delap comparisons, there are also differences. Delap is very much an out-and-out centre-forward and at the age of 21 (he turned 22 in February) he was already leading the line for a Premier League club, with 12 goals in 30 starts.

Osula, meanwhile, scored his first top-flight goal in his 33rd Premier League appearance on Saturday, albeit only nine have been as a starter. But that in itself is indicative of where he is development-wise; he is not yet trusted to be a regular starter and has yet to be named in a Premier League XI for Newcastle.

The “extremely raw” description reflects the feedback from various figures inside the club and throughout the industry. They accept that in terms of characteristics — his height, pace, technical ability, strength and versatility — Osula boasts a unique skill set. However, he remains unpredictable and coaches are not necessarily sure what he is going to do, whether he be able to follow specific instructions to the detail and whether he can produce match-defining moments on a consistent basis yet.

Although he turns 22 in August, Osula is significantly behind Delap in terms of proving he is Premier League-ready. There have been conversations internally about what the next step for Osula should be, whether he is best served remaining on Tyneside and continuing to learn from Howe and by training with Isak, or whether he needs to develop through playing regularly by heading on loan for 2025-26.

We were told our recruitment policy wasn’t “fit for purpose”, probably because we were overpaying. Every target we’re linked with seems to be an EPL player, is it all a smokescreen? — Dan W

Waugh: I assume you’re referring to Paul Mitchell’s remarks last September, which appeared to have been misinterpreted. Without speaking for Mitchell — they were his words, after all — my understanding of what he meant is that Newcastle’s recruitment had not been fit for purpose in the sense that, financially, it was unsustainable. Part of the reason why Newcastle have not signed a first-XI player for three successive windows is because, PSR-wise, they had pretty much maxed themselves out.

While that verdict on Newcastle’s post-takeover transfer strategy can be debated — it fails to take adequate account of the context surrounding why the club had to spend such sums and the need to strengthen certain areas of the team at specific moments — it also hints at why a lot of players being linked are still Premier League-based.

Mitchell has never advocated a policy of only signing overseas-based players, but has seemed to suggest that a rebalancing is required (even if Bruno Guimaraes, Botman, Sandro Tonali and Alexander Isak, four of the biggest post-takeover transfers, were acquired from Europe anyway). Moving forward, players will be signed from Premier League clubs because they are proven in England and there can be a degree of confidence that they will deliver almost immediately.

But an increased proportion of recruits from abroad also seems likely; so not a drastic shift in blueprint, but a subtle one.

Will we still see big-money signings from overseas, like Isak? (Michael Regan/Getty Images)

What’s the future for Joe Willock? Also, is there any chance we have a buy-back clause for Elliot Anderson? — James M

Waugh: The past two seasons have been extremely stop-start for Willock and only in short glimpses have Newcastle fans seen the best of him.

Willock has only started 10 Premier League matches this season and, when Joelinton, Guimaraes and Tonali are available, the 25-year-old does not threaten the starting XI. His ability to carry possession does offer Newcastle a different dimension, however, and he has proven himself to be a threat off the bench in 2025.

Even so, with only two years left on his deal, Newcastle may at least consider offers for Willock. At 25, he is still a relatively attractive option for mid-table/lower-half Premier League clubs and, PSR-wise, Newcastle could do with shrewdly trading outwards as well as inwards. With Sean Longstaff’s future also uncertain, Willock is by no means destined to leave, but an exit is a possibility.

As far as I’m aware, there isn’t a specific buyback clause for Anderson unfortunately (as much as Newcastle would have liked there to have been, they weren’t in a strong enough negotiating position to demand one).

(Top image: Serena Taylor/Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

Share on

email

Previous

trending_flat

Athletic Club’s Basque-only rule: What is it? When did it start? Who qualifies?

Sports

Next

trending_flat

Stars push Avalanche to the brink with commanding Game 5 win: Takeaways

Sports