Benitez's summer budget confirmed - & it might just be quite a bit more than we thought
As transfer news is predictably slow at Newcastle so far this summer, we are all wondering just what budget Rafa Bentiez has been given.
Lee Ryder published an article in the Chronicle claiming Rafa has been given an initial budget of around £40m. At a glance this is incredibly low, but with the report insisting that player sales will top this up, Rafa *could* receive more than we initially expected.
If Ashley backs up the claim of giving Rafa ‘every penny he generates’ and player sales go well, then Benitez's budget may be fairly competitive.
If we look at the initial budget of £40m and the players who are likely to be moved on, the eventual amount available to spend could be be £70m - here's why:
Aleksandar Mitrovic is the departure which will bring us the most revenue. A fee of between £15-20m is being mooted; whether he goes to Fulham permanently or somewhere else. He just isn’t in Rafa’s plans and his appearance for Serbia at the World cup was symbolic of his time at NUFC, physical but missed key chances.
Like Mitrovic, Chancel Mbemba arrived with high hopes but a move to Porto looks set to be confirmed this week. A fee around £6-7m is rumoured and he might do very well elsewhere but is another that just isn’t in the managers plans, so if we can use it to add to our transfer funds it can only help.
Despite clear potential, it again looks like Mikel Merino is heading for the exit door - for a slight profit on the £7m we paid to Dortmund. I would like to see him stay but if Benitez thinks £10m is a good deal for us and the player wants to leave then he's one we may have to sell. Let’s just hope we can secure a quality replacement first.
Then there is the deadwood to shift, which in total could be another £5-10m. Colback, Saivet, Sels, Lazaar, Aarons and Armstrong may all depart are being linked with moves away after not being near the first team last season. This in total would give us in excess of £30m, meaning our budget to secure 4/5 quality additions is looks far healthier.
It is worth considering though that sales may be in instalments so Rafa may need to haggle with Charnley and co. on cash flow, which is irritating. We need to back our manager and the issues on needing to sell before we can buy the players he wants might be behind the transfer impasse we have at the minute. And all the while the clock is ticking…let’s hope we get some good news in the coming weeks.
