If the Newcastle owners plan to continue the squad’s development in the summer transfer window, they need to spend their money wisely before Financial Fair Play inevitably starts to intervene – and they look to be doing that with their latest transfer link, Kalvin Phillips.
Phillips has had a turbulent season with Leeds this season after suffering a hamstring injury that saw him only recently return to action for the first time since December. Despite this, he has been one of Leeds and England’s best players in recent seasons and looks to be ready for a big move away from the Yorkshire club.
The Magpies are on the up since their new owners the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) took over in October and splashed the cash in the January transfer window, coughing up £91.89m on various players like Bruno Guimaraes, Chris Wood, Kieran Trippier, Dan Burn and Matt Targett.
This spending has seemed to pay off, as the club have escaped the relegation zone and now sit 10 points clear of the drop in 15th place, looking like a completely different team in the process.
In order for the team to reach the heights they are capable of with their new investors, they may need to spend big in the next few windows.
Interestingly, he has been linked with a move to Newcastle and the Magpies are prepared to offer him £125k p/w – a huge increase on his current £25k-per-week deal at Leeds – according to the Daily Mail. Starting with Phillips to shore up the midfield is a great idea.
But what could a swoop for the midfielder mean for the Magpies?
Huge upgrade at the position
If Newcastle did sign a player of Phillips’ stature as referenced above, he would arguably automatically slot right into the starting position alongside Guimaraes from day one. Phillips is a huge upgrade on anyone else in the Newcastle squad in his position. Players like Isaac Hayden and Sean Longstaff will surely move down the pecking order and be used as impact subs if required.
This season, although it has been a short one for Phillips, he has put up good numbers, with 2 tackles, 1.1 interceptions and 0.8 clearances per game. Meanwhile, on the attacking side of the ball, he averages 0.7 shots, 0.5 key passes and 3.1 long balls per game as well as an impressive 85.4% pass accuracy from an average 54.3 attempts per match (WhoScored).
To compare with the rest of the team, Hayden averages one tackle and one interception per game with 0.4 shots, 0.1 key passes and 0.6 dribbles, as well as a 78.6% pass accuracy on far fewer attempts than Phillips with 23.7.
Longstaff, on the other hand, averages 2.4 tackles and 0.5 interceptions with 0.3 key passes per game and a 79.4% successful pass rate from 25.5 attempts.
Cut-price
Despite Newcastle’s riches, they may well be able to get a great deal for the Leeds man as his current contract will expire in two years’ time. That means the current £45m-rated man could go for even less than that when only a year ago he was valued at £100m by ex-Arsenal forward Perry Groves.
With his contract entering its final two years, if an extension does not come soon, that could be seen as a sign of Phillips looking to move on, and the opportunity for Leeds to sell at a premium will decrease the further his deal runs towards its expiry – which gives the Magpies the chance of a bargain.
Getting Phillips at a lower price will allow Newcastle to entice the player more with a larger wage and use the rest of the money they would have spent on him around the squad to give them an even greater chance of battling for European places next season.