Newcastle would have looked to have already made signings in the January transfer window but for their Financial Fair Play commitments, says Eddie Howe; little hope of club signing Bournemouth striker Dominic Solanke this month; Joelinton ruled out for six weeks with quad injury
Friday 12 January 2024 16:53, UK
Eddie Howe says Newcastle would have already looked to enter the transfer market this January if they were not held back by the restrictions of Financial Fair Play.
The club have been hit by a succession of long-term injuries this season, with Joelinton the latest setback after being ruled out with a quad injury during last weekend's FA Cup win at Sunderland.
Howe said the club would have looked to utilise the transfer market to fill the gaps left by those absentees, but speaking the day after the club announced pre-tax losses of £73m for 2022/23, he admitted they had been hamstrung by their financial commitments.
"In an ideal world, given the freedom to act we would have brought players in already," Howe said, ahead of Newcastle's home game against Man City on Saturday.
"But we're not in that situation - as Darren [Eales, Newcastle CEO] alluded to on Thursday, Financial Fair Play is a problem for us, and we're having to navigate round that.
"That's the position we're in. When does it become a problem? It's already one, but we're trying to manage through it."
Premier League FFP rules dictate any club can only lose a maximum of £105m over any rolling three-year period - with Newcastle's results from last season alone making up almost 70 per cent of that tally.
CEO Eales had suggested the club may have to sell some of their star players to balance the books, but Howe tempered down any fears Alexander Isak, Bruno Guimaraes or Sven Botman may have to move on.
He said: "[FFP] is a frustration for everyone connected with us. Certainly the owners are very ambitious, and they would like to help and improve the squad in any way they can.
"The rules and conditions we're working under don't allow that. That's just how it is, we're acting in the way we can.
"There's no surprises for me. We've been working under FFP restrictions for some time. I don't know if he said selling a star player, those might be words the media have attached. Selling players is part of every club's DNA now, they have to within FFP rules.
"To sign players, we may have to sell players - that doesn't necessarily mean star players, whatever's meant by that term. But certainly, selling players is something this club will do for the foreseeable future."
Those FFP rules mean there is little prospect of a reunion between Howe and his former striker Dominic Solanke in January, the Newcastle boss said, despite reports they had been hoping to strike a deal with Bournemouth.
"It's a frustrating story," he said. "I love Solanke, I signed him for Bournemouth and rate him very highly.
"But we have not made an enquiry for him and we don't have the ability to sign a player of that level."
Joelinton was forced off two minutes into the second half of Saturday's derby win at the Stadium of Light after what appeared at the time to be an innocuous knock, but Howe revealed the Brazil midfielder will likely be ruled out until the end of February as a result.
"The prospects over the next couple of weeks aren't good," he said. "It will see him miss a minimum of six weeks.
"It's a real blow for us, he's such an important player, he's had a very stop-start season whereas he was very consistent in his selection last season. He's had a few different problems, and this is a big blow.
"We have no one immediately coming back but we have no one like Joelinton. He's our midfield driving force, physically. It's a big blow.
"We haven't wanted to focus on the injury situation because it's only negative, there's not much good to be had from talking about it. Joey's injury is another freak one where he's off-balance and gets pushed in the back.
"But unfortunately for us any injury we've had this season hasn't been one or two weeks, at a time when we can't afford it. We're stretched in the attacking and midfield areas, and have been for a long time. We've not been able to rest players, and it's affected our ability to change the flow of games."
