Newcastle United’s Champions League qualification not met with heavy spending as expected

Jakarta –

After two decades, Newcastle United qualified for the Champions League again. Supported by wealthy owners from Saudi Arabia, the Toon Army is predicted to spend heavily. However, according to the latest news, this is not the case.

Newcastle managed to finish the 2022/2023 Premier League in fourth place. That is, a ticket to the Champions League next season was successfully won.

For Newcastle, the result was an achievement in itself. The Magpies haven’t played in the Champions League since 2002/2003 — in the season after that they had to be willing to be knocked out in the third qualifier so they didn’t make it to the main round.

By qualifying for the Champions League, Newcastle United now also will compete with tough teams throughout Europe. This too, at first, led to suspicions that a lot of new ammunition would be imported.

The allegation itself cannot be separated from the fact that Newcastle, under ownership driven by a consortium from Saudi Arabia, has been so aggressive in the three previous transfer markets. No less than 250 million pounds spent.

Judging from the spending figure, which if converted would touch the range of IDR 3.74 trillion, Newcastle is also predicted to be very frenetic in the transfer market this time in order to appear as much as possible in the Champions League.

However, reality seems to be different from expectations. At least if you look at the news from the Daily Mail, which says that this summer Newcastle can only spend 70-80 million pounds, aka Rp. 1.3 trillion – Rp. 1.5 trillion.

The news that Newcastle’s spending money turned out to be “that’s all” suddenly made netizens react on social media. Not a few supporters of the Magpies are immediately worried about the fate of their favorite team.

“Yes, if you can only spend 75 million, get ready for us to struggle to maintain the top four positions because our team’s materials are still sober, unless we invest again in the squad,” tweeted a netizen.

“If this is true, we will be good if we can finish in the top 10 next season,” said another.

It is claimed that Financial Fair Play (FFP) calculations have resulted in Newcastle United’s spending budget this summer being smaller than initially estimated, which is also related to the large outlays in the previous transfer market.

Of course funds for spending this summer in theory could still be more “loose”. conditions, Newcastle United release first a number of players.

(krs/adp)