Eddie Howe admits FFP could limit Newcastle in January transfer window

Eddie Howe believes Newcastle must not rest on success from their top three position and wants to improve his squad in January, but the head coach accepts that funds could be limited by FFP.

We understand that media deals for players like Leicester’s James Maddison are extremely unlikely given the finances that would be involved, although Howe remains a fan.

The club’s model, at present, is also more geared towards identifying players they can develop at prices they believe represent value, such as Bruno Guimaraes (£36m) and Sven Botman (£32m).

Howe will hold a transfer meeting with sporting director Dan Ashworth and co-owners Amanda Staveley, Mehrdad Ghodoussi and Jamie Reuben here in Saudi Arabia this week as they gear up for the New Year window.

Sources say ‘one in, one out’ is the most likely scenario after a year in which Saudi-backed owners have spent more than £200m on eight new players.

However, Howe will also emphasize that their current position in the Champions League places should be a reason to push on and get stronger. He spoke to us from the team hotel in Riyadh on Tuesday, where he discussed the January deals for the first time.

“As a coach, I always look to improve the team,” he said. ‘I’ll never sit here and be content, I don’t think that’s the right way to manage.

‘My way of taking the team to new heights is to improve through training the players we have. If we cannot reach a certain level, we must find it in the transfer market.

‘In my position, you are willing to sign the best players you can, but those players have a prize. Botman was not cheap, Alex Isak (£60m) was not cheap.

Those are players who can influence the starting XI.

‘Do we have the finances for that? I don’t know. That could affect our options. It’s a considerable outlay that the club has to find and with FFP, I’m not sure it’s available to us. You have to work within the guidelines of the club.’

One position Newcastle will surely strengthen is right-back, with West Ham’s Harrison Ashby and Leeds United’s Cody Drameh on the shortlist.

But elsewhere, Howe says the performance of certain players during the early part of the season has changed the way he thinks about transfers.

He did not name Miguel Almirón, but his great form from the right wing has diminished the need for transfers in that area.

So have the priorities changed since the summer?

“Probably, yes, I would say,” he said. ‘You are always generating new impressions and opinions about the players because of what you see in games and training. The team, in my opinion, looks different than it did in the summer because of how well the players have done, and from my perspective, I can’t ignore that.

“On paper it looks like we have a very strong team when everyone is fit. Not everyone is fit right now, and that factors into what you expect to do in January. I don’t expect too much business, either inbound or outbound, but it’s soccer and it’s January so it’s unpredictable.

“We cannot predict what will happen with our own team, in terms of fitness and availability, so we must be ready to act if necessary.”

There is also, for Howe, the consideration of disrupting a group dynamic that has carried them so high in the league, with five straight wins before the World Cup.

“These are the tough decisions you have to make when you’re in my shoes.” he said. ‘You can sign a very good player, but the chemistry is not right and the team is not doing as well as perhaps everyone would have predicted.

‘It can fail to add new energy to the group and sometimes the group can look a bit flat because you haven’t added to the dynamic, and that can change (things).

“So my thinking is always, every transfer window, try to improve the team if we can, but I’m aware that the chemistry is brilliant within the group, and I don’t want to disturb that.”