MAGPIES COULD BE OFF-TOON! - Newcastle have got £250m summer sales spot on but new-found fortune could cause worry

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In

Newcastle United

’s mediocre

Premier League

season of 2025/26, midfielders Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes, along with attacker Anthony Gordon, played significant roles. Or insignificant roles, if you prefer.

Between them, the trio made 90 appearances in the Premier League. Between them, they scored 15 Premier League goals, contributed 10 league assists and amassed 13 yellow cards and one red.

Yet if Newcastle hold out for £75million before doing the inevitable - and selling Guimaraes to

Arsenal

- it will mean they have banked £250million for three players who were fundamental to the team’s under-performance last season.

The transfer market and the money involved went mad a long time ago. Don’t forget, at the end of last summer, Newcastle collected £125million for a striker,

Alexander Isak

, who, unfortunately, was restricted to 14 Premier League appearances for his new club, scoring three goals and making a single assist.

Even allowing for the craziness of the Premier League market, Newcastle have got top dollar for their sales. And to an extent, their hand has been forced by the game’s financial regulations, both domestically and in Europe.

Even if the Saudi ownership had wanted to spend lavishly and keep hold of every valuable asset, they could not. That much is clear. But it is also indisputable that Newcastle’s hand has been forced by their marquee players WANTING to leave the club.

After going to

Spurs

to double his wages to a figure close to £300,000-a-week, Tonali wrote an emotional goodbye to Newcastle fans. At least he said it was emotional. He had only been there for three years and spent ten months of that time serving a ban for betting on football.

The Italian was popular but it is hard to imagine too many supporters having to dry their eyes. Tonali will be no St James’ Park hall-of-famer, that is for sure. At least Tonali’s exit was not as drawn-out and as acrimonious as Isak’s had been in 2025 when the Swedish player went on strike.

Gordon’s move to Barcelona was a surprise but it seemed good for all parties. Well, good for Newcastle and the player, for certain. Whether it turns out to be good for Barcelona is another matter.

But

Arsenal’s move for Guimaraes

- whose missed penalty proved costly in Brazil’s World Cup knockout loss to Norway - is likely to cause more acrimony. Not on an Isak scale, but it is not welcome, apparently. However, reports suggest Guimaraes has told Newcastle he wants to leave and we all know where matters go from there.

Newcastle reject a couple of opening offers for the 28-year-old but accept a third or fourth one. In this case, that will probably be in the region of £75million.

And while Guimaraes most certainly was a favourite of Newcastle fans - and as hard a working midfielder as you are likely to find - those supporters are proud enough to tell an unhappy player to pack his bags.

Those same supporters might also be appeased by the way Newcastle are reinvesting money in young players, exciting talents in the early throes of their careers.

Sean Steur, the 18-year-old midfielder arriving from Ajax, is seen as a generational Dutch talent and if Newcastle can complete the £50million signing of Swiss midfielder Johan Manzambi, from Freiburg, it will be something of a coup.

But this is almost certainly not how Newcastle fans saw things progressing as the club approaches five years of Saudi rule.

And it is certainly not what they might have imagined as recently as December of last year when David Hopkinson, the new chief executive officer, said: “By 2030, I see this club being in the debate about being the top club in the world … and winning the Premier League is a realistic short-term aim for the club.”

No, it is not. And under this current regime, it is hard to see how it ever will be.