What Newcastle United CEO Darren Eales has already said about finances ahead of PSR deadline

Newcastle United face a race against time to sell players in order to comply with the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR). The Magpies are one of a number of teams that could fall foul of these rules which take into account a club’s losses over a rolling three-year period.

June 30 is the end of that accounting period, meaning that Newcastle United and their rivals have until the close of play to ensure they have not lost more than £105m over the last three years - or else they would be risking a potential points deduction. Everton and Nottingham Forest were both handed points deductions last season and the Premier League will continue to punish clubs who breach these rules.

What has Darren Eales said about Newcastle United’s finances?

Speaking in January upon publication of their most recent accounts, Eales said: “We're compliant in the year we're talking about [2022-23].

“Our plans are always to be compliant going forward, that is part of our business plan and part of our model.”

What has Darren Eales said about potentially selling key players to comply with PSR and FFP?

Asked if the club would have to sell players like Alexander Isak or Bruno Guimaraes, he rescinded: “On any player, at any time, it depends on circumstances.

“It’s difficult to hypothesise but, if we’re offered £1billion for one of those players, then no one could argue against that making sense. Any decision we make will always be against the backdrop of the medium to long-term benefit for the club.

“It’s difficult to say specifically on certain players, but I can say that, if we’re going to get to where we want to get to, at times, it is necessary to trade your players. Whether that is because of the contract length of the player in question, the offer is too good to refuse, you need to reload in certain areas, but all of this could make sense to trade that player.

“It is counter-intuitive and part of the inherent system of PSR that there is an incentive to trade your players if you want to re-invest, by the nature of the boundaries. Under FFP, if you sell a £50m player and bring in an identical one on £50m and the same wages, but amortise over the five years the player you are bringing in, that's only £10m a year so you are creating £40m of headroom.

“That's the reality of the FFP model. If you are churning players you create more headroom. We have seen lots of examples of this elsewhere.

“[Philippe] Coutinho at Liverpool and they brought in Allison and Virgil van Dijk. [Jack] Grealish going from Aston Villa [to Manchester City] and they have reinvested and reloaded. Decan Rice at West Ham, it's just the nature of the beast.

“If you trade players on, it creates more headroom. You have to keep growing that headroom [by] increasing commercial revenue and player trading.”