Newcastle's sporting director reflects upon Marc Guehi's deal and the summer transfer window

The summer transfer window ended much before, and now the English clubs can only strengthen their squads through free transfers. For some PL clubs, the transfer window was a cherish; however, it didn't turn out to be that good for clubs like Newcastle. Failing to complete the major reinforcements, the Magpies club is into the new season with almost the same setup.

Newcastle's sporting director reflects upon Marc Guehi's deal and the summer transfer window

Recently, Newcastle's sporting director Paul Mitchell has addressed the major concerns as to what restricted the club from making any high-profile signings this summer. Not to forget, the club had been in pursuit of Crystal Palace's star defender, Marc Guehi, for around 6-7 weeks and even in the race for Chiesa in the end stages of the window, but ended with none.

In particular, Newcastle fans are very frustrated due to Guehi's deal going cold, as it has been quite evident that the club needed a solid center-back, and the board couldn't bring in the reinforcement. Speaking on the deal, Mitchell mentioned,

"“We had a player as the key, core target. We were still in dialogue with Palace all the way through, but Eddie was very clear, and it’s not up to me after seven weeks to say, “We’ll do this and that,"  because I’m in a supporting role.""

- Paul Mitchell

Not to forget that Mitchell had been appointed for the role after the club had sold two players to comply with the PSR alliance, and the Guehi deal might have been halted to not overburden the club's stressed financial situations. Regarding the same, Mitchell mentioned that the club can't just keep spending and that they need to be in compliance with the rules to not face points deduction.

In Mitchell's words,

"“We can’t just keep spending, spending because at some point that won’t enable the club to facilitate its goals, and I don’t think any Newcastle fan wants to see this club in a place where other clubs were last season with docked points, with financial penalties because that can really affect our growth.”"

- Paul Mitchell

Overall, Mitchell has pointed out that while they could have gone for better alternatives, they didn't end up that way to be safe from any penalties for PSR violence. In order to progress in the long term, the club decided to end up where they did and that the club would bring in reinforcements if they felt the need.