Jurgen Klopp
Jurgen Klopp
Jurgen Klopp once intimated that Newcastle United could 'do what they want financially'. Not in a PSR world.
In fact, it has been Liverpool who have spent big in the opening weeks of the window, which has led to some Newcastle fans recalling Klopp's words after the former Reds boss claimed 'other clubs have ceilings'.
However, there is a reason why Liverpool have been able to make aggressive early moves for Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong and, now, Milos Kerkez.
For a start, Liverpool, like Newcastle, were one of the few top-flight clubs not to do any major business last summer. In fact, the champions made just one signing, Federico Chiesa, who arrived for £10m.
All the while, Liverpool income streams have continued to swell. The Reds' coffers have been boosted by: huge amounts of prize money from winning the Premier League and dominating the league phase of the Champions League; increases in commercial income, including a new lucrative deal with Adidas; and a rise in match day revenue following the expansion of Anfield.
Liverpool, as a result, could even break the £700m barrier in the club's financial accounts for 2024-25. For context, that would be more than double the £320.3m that Newcastle generated in 2023-24.
Liverpool have also traded effectively for some time now. Although Liverpool may have admittedly started from a higher base, Arne Slot raised a combined £40m from the sales of Fabio Carvalho and Sepp van den Berg to Brentford last summer while Jarell Quansah will command a similar fee if the defender joins Bayer Leverkusen in the coming weeks.
Last summer was far from a one-off, either. In fact, Liverpool generated £197.6m through player sales in the previous four years.
Going back further, even when Liverpool lost a key figure like Philippe Coutinho, in 2018, the money was smartly reinvested and enabled the club to go again and sign Virgil van Dijk and Alisson.
It was rather telling that Paul Mitchell pointed to Liverpool's 'good learnings' and the sales of Carvalho and van den Berg when Newcastle's outgoing sporting director discussed how to fund a 'big one'.
"We've got to balance out the aggregate," Mitchell admitted back in September. "At the moment, it's like 100 to zero and we've got to find our position in the market where both of them attribute and feed each other because every other club does that."
This is something Newcastle have historically struggled with, which very nearly led to a PSR breach last summer, until the 11th-hour trades of Yankuba Minteh and Elliot Anderson.
For context, the Magpies averaged just £12m profit on disposal in the previous three-year PSR cycle whereas the average of the former 'big six' was £156m in the same period while even the other 13 clubs generated north of £60m.
Newcastle have since managed to raise funds for fringe players, including Miguel Almiron and Lloyd Kelly, which has helped put the black-and-whites in a better place to finally strengthen, particularly when the new PSR cycle kicks in next month.
However, the long-term challenge is to close the gap on Liverpool - and not just on the field.