It has been a year like no other for Newcastle United in 2022. The club has gone from the Premier League relegation zone to the Champions League places in less than 12 months.
The form of Eddie Howe’s side has been very imprsssive. While the head coach has worked wonders at St James’s Park, he has also been helped with some smart and substatial business in the transfer market.
The United squad has been bolstered significantly in 2022 with the arrivals of Kieran Trippier, Chris Wood, Bruno Guimaraes, Dan Burn, Matt Targett, Nick Pope, Sven Botman, Alexander Isak and Loris Karius. Meanwhile, the only departures at the club have been necessary ones in order to make space in the squad, no high profile names have left.
In the past, Newcastle were deemed a selling club, whose net spend was often in the black while their Premier League rivals continued to strengthen. But times have changed and Newcastle are now capable of spending and strengthening with each passing transfer window.
Here’s how the Premier League clubs rank from lowest net spend (biggest profit) to highest over the two transfer windows in 2022...
1. Leicester City: +£57.96m
Leicester City have made almost £60million in profit during transfer windows in 2022. That is no small part down to the £70million sale of Wesley Fofana to Chelsea.
2. Brighton & Hove Albion: +£56.79m
Brighton also benefited from a big money signing from Chelsea as the Blues acquired Marc Cucurella for just shy of £60million in the summer. Photo: Shaun Botterill
3. Manchester City: +£52.56m
Despite signing Erling Haaland for a relatively modest initial fee of £54million, Manchester City have also seen players leave for big money such as Raheem Sterling to Chelsea Gabriel Jesus to Arsenal and Ferran Torres to Barcelona.
4. Leeds United: -£1.75m
Leeds’ transfer net spend remained fairly balanced in 2022 as they made several big money signings such as Brenden Aaronson for just shy of £30million but also sold Brazilian international Raphinha to Barcelona for over £50million. Photo: Fran Santiago