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Arsenal’s private feud with Newcastle exposed as £200m at stake
Tensions between Arsenal and Newcastle United appear to have been simmering behind the scenes for some time, potentially with a major impact on the transfer market.
Overall, it has been a quiet transfer window by the Premier League’s extravagant standards.
Both Newcastle and Arsenal – who spent £130m and £200m respectively in 2023-24 – have had relatively modest summers.
Arsenal have added Italian centre-back Riccardo Calafiori to their ranks, as well as making David Raya’s loan move from Brentford permanent as expected.
Newcastle meanwhile faced a madcap dash to generate enough profit from player sales to comply with the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules ahead of the 30th June cut-off.
They appear to have done so thanks to the exits of promising youngsters Elliott Anderson and Yankuba Minteh to Nottingham Forest and Brighton respectively.
Both are sales they would rather have avoided but, as finance expert Kieran Maguire exclusively told TBR earlier this summer, Newcastle need to move to a player trading model.
Lewis Hall has been their biggest signing of the summer so far, joining from Chelsea in a £28m deal.
However, their main focus is arguably keeping hold of their biggest stars – the likes of Alexander Isak and Bruno Guimaraes.
And the Magpies may have more reason than one to reject Arsenal’s potential advantages for those players.
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Arsenal and Newcastle United at odds over Premier League regulations
Alongside Chelsea, Newcastle have been the Premier League’s greatest disruptors in recent years.
Their takeover by the Saudi Pubic Investment Fund in October 2021 catapulted them to global attention and brought the top flight’s ownership and spending regulations into sharp focus.
One of the reasons many objected to the takeover was because of the alleged role of the Saudi state which, technically, is not permitted by the Premier League.
However, the Premier League insist that they have received “legally binding assurances” that the Saudi state do not control Newcastle – although this has been heavily disputed.
Many fans and a commentators protested the takeover because of Saudi ‘sportswashing’, but objections from clubs were more concerned with not being able to compete with PIF’s staggering wealth.
Arsenal, whose owner Stan Kroenke is phenomenally rich but wants the club to be self-sufficient in the long-term, appear to be one of the clubs to have formalised these concerns.
As reported by The ‘s Miguel Delaney, the Gunners have led efforts in the Premier League to curb the spending of state-backed clubs Newcastle and Man City.
This is believed to have led to a fractious relationship between the two clubs’ respective boards.
That, it is claimed, is a clear roadblock in any hopes Arsenal have of signing Guimaraes and Isak, whose combined value is likely in excess of £200m.
TBR Analysis: Why can Arsenal spend more under PSR than Newcastle?
Under Premier League PSR rules, Arsenal and Newcastle are permitted to lose a maximum of £105m over a rolling three-year period.
On paper, both clubs are over the limit, but PSR deductible expenses and the intricacies of how profit-loss is calculated by the Premier League means they have both come in under the limit.
However, Arsenal have significantly more PSR headroom than Newcastle.
Yes, the North London club must also comply with UEFA’s stricter system, but the new squad cost ratio is being phased in and is not yet at its tightest and UEFA are more lenient to clubs in good financial health.
For all the faults of Mike Ashley meanwhile, the former Newcastle owner left a brilliant PSR position for PIF to inherit due to the modest approach he employed in the transfer market.
But the spending the Saudis have sanctioned since their arrival on Tyneside is now catching up with them, even with greatly increased revenues from the Ashley era.
CEO Darren Eales has said that the club will always spend the maximum amount that PSR allows, but that is significantly less than Arsenal and others in the so-called ‘Big Six’.