The market moves that saw Newcastle United hamstrung as Chelsea duo moved to Aston Villa and Fulham

Both ended up at Steve Bruce’s Premier League rivals, with little to no effort from Newcastle United to get involved in those deals.

And you have to ask why, where Aston Villa and Fulham triumphed, the Magpies were not even at the races?

It’s simple really – they could not trim the fat from their over-inflated first-team squad, bloated with three long-term, no use, cash drains and two former first-team regulars deemed surplus to requirement.

This summer, with the coronavirus pandemic a constant, unnerving undercurrent, the window was not a seller’s market. Premier League clubs struggled to rid themselves of players told to make their futures elsewhere.

While high-profile non-departures, such as Antonio Rudiger at Chelsea, may have grabbed the headlines, United have five of their own – each one of the quintet playing their role in the Magpies’ radio silence as the international transfer window drew to an uninspiring close.

Henri Saivet, as popular a figure he seems behind the scenes, Achraf Lazaar and Rolando Aarons were three players who United have not been able to shift for years, never mind a window. The trio cannot even be given away.

The threesome’s failure to depart – due in no small part to their unusually high wage packet for players of their talents, dished out years back – meant Bruce could not free up room in his squad or budget to dip back into the market.

The situation with Christian Atsu and DeAndre Yedlin is different. Both have been loyal servants to Newcastle United, both have contributed positively in their times on Tyneside.

But, in a want to progress, Bruce has decided the Rafa Benitez signings to get United promoted back to the Premier League no longer serve their purpose as the Magpies look to shake their habit of flirting with relegation.

Again, though, United have been unable to get the duo off their books in a swift enough fashion so they could further strengthen with say, a Barkley – a catalyst for Villa’s emphatic smashing of champions Liverpool on Sunday – or Loftus-Cheek – a player wanted by Benitez while Yedlin and Atsu were still fighting to establish themselves at St James’s Park. They might still leave, of course, with deals with Championship clubs still allowed. Atsu, much more than Yedlin, fits into this category.

Newcastle United have tied themselves in knots with long-term deals in the past and they continue to do so. They’ve not learned from Saivet, or Lazaar or Aarons.

Karl Darlow, although excellent this season, was handed an inexplicably long contract extension, so too was Javier Manquillo as well as Marmite player Jonjo Shelvey and now fringe midfielder Matt Ritchie. Disclaimer: I DO like Ritchie, but his Premier League limitations are there for all to see.

Retaining value for a potential future sale is one thing, but making players unsaleable with the same act – like they did with Dwight Gayle’s 2018 wage rise – is yet more evidence Newcastle United’s hierarchy struggle to understand simple football economics.

It’s bitten them in the backside this time, and will no doubt do so again in the next window, and the one after that…

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