Newcastle United journalist Lee Ryder has provided fans with an update on the state of the squad following some departures from St. James’ Park.
Steve Bruce’s men haven’t been all that busy in this current transfer window, with no players coming in so far, although a number of players have left either on loan or permanently. Of course, it shouldn’t come as a major surprise that Newcastle have barely spent, as it’s very much been their mantra for a large part of the Mike Ashley era.
But speaking about the issue on a Facebook Live video, Ryder claimed that the reason the club haven’t made any signings yet this summer is down to the fact they have to get rid of players first in order to generate the funds to go and attack the transfer market:
“The squad is starting to be trimmed down and basically, I think Steve Bruce knows he has to trim that squad, because ultimately, he is not going to have a case to bring players in if the wage bill’s still through the roof.
“I mean, they have got rid of people like [Christian] Atsu, [Henri] Saivet, [Achraf] Lazaar – those three players alone I think took £100,000 a week off the wage bill. This [the potential departures of Yoshinori Muto and Elias Sorensen] will add more to it.
“I think when you consider Andy Carroll’s also at the moment off the books, it gives Steve Bruce a decent argument to bring players in. The money can be put towards loan deals; you have to pay a loan fee of course to get players through the door. So that will all hopefully come in handy for a couple of loans.”
TIF Thoughts on Lee Ryder’s comments about Newcastle United’s transfer plans…
It certainly isn’t the most positive update from Ryder, and given reports that Newcastle will only have a budget of £10m to spend this summer, you do start to wonder just how many players are going to have to continue to be sacrificed before the club have enough room to wiggle in the transfer market and bring players in.
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And given that there are now less than three weeks until their first game in the Premier League, they are going to have to make those moves quickly if they are to get any players in before the start of the season, otherwise they could end up at a real disadvantage by the time the first game comes around if they still haven’t got the team that they want.
In other news: ‘I have to criticise’ – Pundit slams Bruce over ‘disgraceful’ treatment