Newcastle United’s ‘risky’ transfer and PSR strategy as nine set to leave club - as it stands

As they discovered in June, the Premier League’s clamp down on their Profit and Sustainability Rules is a serious issue and one that Newcastle United have been keen to avoid falling foul of. The reluctant sales of Yankuba Minteh and Elliot Anderson prevented a points deduction on that occasion and they will be very keen on ensuring they never repeat their mad end of June scramble.

To do that, the club need to get better at selling players. CEO Darren Eales highlighted this issue back in 2023 following the sale of Allan Saint-Maximin to Al-Ahli, stating: “One of the ways you can get the income is by moving players. If you move a player, you recognise all that revenue at that time but when you buy a player, you amortise that.

“What that means is you spread out the cost across the length of the contract so what that does mean is that if you are churning players, you get more availability to spend money.”

The summer window has now closed and January, when the winter window opens, is three-and-a-half months away, however, that does not mean that Newcastle United cannot be preparing for that. Scouting and identifying potential recruits will have already begun, but planning for aa few departures will also have to be on their to-do list - and with nine players out of contract at the end of the season as it stands, there are plenty of big decisions to make.

Among the most high-profile players to be out of contract in the summer are Fabian Schar and Callum Wilson. Schar signed a one-year extension back in January and his continued prominence in Eddie Howe’s first-team suggests that the club would want to see him stay past this summer.

Wilson, meanwhile, is yet to feature this season as injury problems continue to persist. There’s no doubting his ability on the pitch, but his fitness issues mean they face a big call on whether to offer him a new deal.

Like Schar, Dan Burn has also fairly recently signed an extension to his deal and whilst that reportedly expires this summer, his influence in the team and behind the scenes will likely see him rewarded with a new deal.

Elsewhere, Jamaal Lascelles, Martin Dubravka, Sean Longstaff, Emil Krafth, John Ruddy and Mark Gillespie all have less than a year on their current contracts. In a world of PSR, allowing contracts to run down is a risky strategy and losing any player on a free transfer and being unable to bank a transfer fee is a big blow.

Clubs will be doing everything they can to avoid that outcome this winter. For Newcastle, that means they will have some major decisions to make in the coming months regarding players they want to keep at the club and then in January in trying to squeeze the maximum amount of money out of any and all player sales.