Lee Charnley outlines Newcastle’s new transfer policy

Lee Charnley has outlined Newcastle United’s new transfer policy going forward after releasing the club’s financial records.

According to three reports from The Sun, talkSport and Shields Gazette, Newcastle United have promised to give Rafa Benitez a transfer budget of £100M over the course of two seasons. In other words, Benitez has been promised a budget of at least £50M this summer and £50M next summer.

In addition to this exclusive news, the reports also go on to quote Lee Charnley as he outlined Newcastle’s new transfer policy while using the club’s finances over the last two seasons to explain the logic behind this new policy. To read the full quotes from Charnley, see below:

"Our accounts are pretty simple. We’ve got turnover less our wage bill and other operating costs. And broadly speaking that gives us what we have to spend in a year. It’s not difficult to do the maths – that’s what we have to spend.[…]We would look to spend our budget on a small number of high-quality players, rather than dilute the money over so many. We’d then look to supplement this with loans. We want players that can make a difference and improve the team.[…]We want to be competitive at every level and in every competition. The idea we turn up every year just hoping to survive just isn’t correct. We want to improve – but do so sustainably."

What This Means For Newcastle

This new transfer policy sounds great, but we need to see if the club will actually implement it this summer. Mike Ashley has often made bold promises, especially to Benitez, but his promises were all talk and no action. If this policy is implemented it means that Miguel Almiron‘s status as the club’s record-breaking signing will be short-lived.

Newcastle’s current roster belongs in the bottom half of the table, but the addition of two or three quality permanent signings could see the Magpies compete against teams like Leicester City, Wolverhampton and West Ham to knock on the door of the top six. The big question, however, is whether or not this new budget and policy is enough to convince Benitez to stay? In my opinion, it should, but only Benitez knows what he wants to do with his future.