Newcastle manager Eddie Howe has reluctantly acknowledged that the club had to sell Allan Saint-Maximin during the summer transfer window against his desires.
Despite having new owners with significant financial resources, Newcastle are constrained by financial fair play rules, necessitating a sell-to-buy approach to strengthen the squad amidst numerous injuries.
Saint-Maximin was sold to Al Ahli for £23 million, a decision Howe confirmed he did not want but was compelled to make for the sake of player trading.
The manager drew parallels with other clubs like Manchester City and Arsenal, which engage in player trading to refresh their squads.
In a recent interview with TalkSport, Howe discussed the challenges faced by the club in balancing financial constraints and the need to keep the squad dynamic. He said:
“It’s difficult to comment on individual players but player trading, if you look at Man City or Arsenal, they have traded players. Not between each other but in recent windows,“
“We have done that ourselves with Allan Saint-Maximin, a player we didn’t want to sell, but we had to last summer. That will continue to be the case, that will give us the opportunity to keep things fresh.“
It is now being reported that Newcastle might have to sell another marquee player like Bruno Guimaraes in order to invest more in the squad.
Newcastle have struggled to replicate their form from last season. They are currently 10th in the table, and have only won once in their last 5 games. They will need to improve massively if they want to compete for a top 4 finish.