Howe asked "where has the Guehi money gone?" - Newcastle boss attempts to clear it up

Eddie Howe has attempted to explain why the money that was available to spend on Marc Guehi last summer is not sat waiting to be spent this month.

Frustrations around PSR amongst the club and fans alike are continuing with it not even being entirely clear to the Magpies gaffer how the system works as whole, meaning the circa £50m that was allegedly available for the Crystal Palace defender has had to be shelved.

There has been talk of Kieran Trippier, Martin Dubravka, Sean Longstaff, Harvey Barnes, Callum Wilson and Miguel Almiron leaving this month to accrue funds to reinvest this winter, but with Miggy the only Mag seeming likely to depart as things stand, it feels very possible that we don't bring anyone in over the next two weeks.

Howe attempts to explain Guehi confusion

Speaking to Howe in a recent press conference, Dominic Scurr of the Shields Gazette asked the boss if he could help clear up why the cash put towards big-money bids for Marc Guehi in August does not appear to be freely available.

A tricky question to answer given the complications of PSR and Howe's reluctance to talk transfers, but the gaffer did his best to explain the situation:

“I’m not going to sit here and explain PSR because I don’t even understand all of it,” said Howe. “It’s not as clear as everyone will make out, there’s not a pot of money there that’s waiting to be spent. It's all about the 30th of June and making sure you comply by that date, so obviously if you spend money then you have to recoup it.”

Essentially, if that money was spent in the summer then we would have had to recoup it this month. So, if we now want to sign in January, we have to balance the books ahead of the June deadline - that appears to be the case, at least.

Newcastle clearly wary of June deadline

We were backed into a PSR-induced corner last summer with the only way to force ourselves out of it being selling two of our top young players in Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh. Frustrating, though a relief not to lose any of our ‘key players’.

Quite frankly we made a mess of it last year and we're clearly wary of being repeat offenders. We know we must sell to sign and don’t want to be forced into a position where we have to sell a talent we would rather keep at the last minute.

It’s vital we don’t spend money we don’t have and risk a points deduction, or losing all bargaining power if clubs swoop take advantage of our position and swoop in for our elite players.