Eddie Howe warns Financial Fair Play rules will limit Newcastle’s ability to spend big for the foreseeable future, with club having just £40m left to spend this summer as they chase James Maddison
- Newcastle had been expected to spend big this summer with their new owners
- They have spent £55m but are now operating on a restricted budget
- The £40m offer for James Maddison this week is said to be their limit
Eddie Howe has warned that Financial Fair Play will have an impact on Newcastle United for ‘a number of years’.
There was an expectation that the arrival of Saudi-backed owners would result in lavish investment in the playing squad.
But while £94million was spent in January on five new players and a further £55m this summer, the club are now operating within a restricted budget.
Eddie Howe has warned that FFP will have an impact on Newcastle for ‘a number of years’
Indeed, a £40m offer for James Maddison this week – rejected by Leicester – is said to be the limit of their scope for the remainder of this window.
Howe had said in May that funds would be limited because of FFP and stressed the need for ‘evolution not revolution’.
And, asked on the eve of the new season what this summer’s business told us about the current financial position of the club, Howe said: ‘Hopefully it tells you that what I was trying to tell you at the back end of last season was the truth.
‘Financial Fair Play impacts us and will continue to impact us, I think, for a number of years. We haven’t got the free rein, the free hand, that maybe has been perceived within the media, that we can go and sign who we want and pay extortionate fees and wages.
The £40m offer for James Maddison this week – rejected by Leicester – is said to be their limit
‘We’re not in that position and I don’t think we will be for some period of time. We’re having to be creative and smart and try and make the right additions within the financial constraints that we have.’
Newcastle’s pursuit of Maddison has now gone cold, while another target, Burnley’s Maxwel Cornet, is set for West Ham.
Howe said: ‘Nothing’s progressed any further. The situation has remained the same since we made our last signing. We’re working hard to try and add to the…