According to Luke Edwards, what held Newcastle United back when it came to strengthening their squad late in the transfer window was the amount of money the club were spending on players who simply weren’t under first-team consideration but, while that is of course frustrating, perhaps 2021 will offer some light at the end of the tunnel.
Indeed, the likes of Henri Saivet, Achraf Lazaar, Rolando Aarons and Christian Atsu are reported to be costing the Magpies upwards of £140k-per-week, meaning money was tight when looking to add further reinforcement late in the window. Clearly when you add DeAndre Yedlin to that problem too, a huge financial strain is being put on the club with very little return.
Ideally, of course, these players would have been sold in order to raise capital. Still, we’ve seen a major problem towards the top end of the game when it comes to clubs trying to shift players on big wages – think of Luis Suarez at Barcelona or Gonzalo Higuain at Juventus – so this is far from just a problem at St. James’ Park.
With that in mind, 2021 can offer a brighter future. These players, along with the likes of Jacob Murphy, Fabian Schar and Andy Carroll are all out of contract next summer and, in theory, that should free up a lot of space on the wage bill. Granted, not being able to draw transfer fees in is damaging and further confirms how poor some of these investments were in the first place, but the fact remains, they will no longer be being paid by Newcastle United.
Perhaps next season, then, the squad can start to evolve. The arrival of Callum Wilson has proved transformative as the £20m striker has scored four goals in as many games for the Toon Army so, as things stand, it’s not as if the playing staff need a complete overhaul. With some clever signings to back up the first-team or add a touch more dynamism in midfield, maybe 2021 can offer a brighter future with so much deadwood no longer under contract.