It's not all good news for Newcastle United back in the Champions League amid reports that they've comfortably breached one of UEFA's rules and could be facing a punishment as a result.
Where Newcastle stand financially
Whilst they were incredibly limited in 2024 when it came to spending in the Premier League, Champions League qualification and player sales quickly solved their domestic problems this summer. As such, Eddie Howe was finally in a position to welcome fresh faces again and after much toing and froing, he secured Nick Woltemade, Yoane Wissa, Anthony Elanga, Malick Thiaw and Jacob Ramsey.
Woltemade's arrival would have come as a particular relief. The German was one of many options on Newcastle's list of striker targets, as they were handed rejection after rejection. Eventually, it was the Stuttgart striker that arrived and, to his credit, he's wasted no time before finding his feet - scoring on his debut against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
But after a summer of spending and the record sale of Alexander Isak, where do Newcastle stand financially? Football finance expert Kieram Maguire had his say and compared it to when Aston Villa sold Jack Grealish to Manchester City in 2021.
He told BBC Sport: "It will give them that financial flexibility that they didn't have 12 months ago when they were forced to do nothing for a couple of windows. You don't want that repeating, especially when the club are ambitious and aspirational."
So, as things stand, it looks as though PIF will satisfy the Premier League's financial regulations. However, the same may not be said for UEFA's financial rules. Reports are now suggesting that Newcastle could be facing further trouble away from the pitch.
Newcastle could be facing UEFA punishment
According to The Athletic, Newcastle have comfortably breached UEFA's loss limit, which allows teams to lose up to £52m over three years. PIF recorded operating losses at St James' Park worth around £68m in each of the last two seasons and could now be facing a similar punishment to Aston Villa and Chelsea, who were hit with fines earlier this year.
Even after the sale of Isak, the problem that Newcastle have is that UEFA have noted Elliot Anderson's move to Nottingham Forest as a swap deal with Odysseas Vlachodimos. They've also reduced the sale of Allan Saint-Maximin to Al Ahli to nil profit due to the fact that the Saudi club are a shared party with the club.
yasir-al-rumayyan
Newcastle United and PIF chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan.
Whilst the official financial reports for 2024/25 are yet to be released, it doesn't look good for Newcastle once again. They will hope that this is the final time that they face such issues after selling big in the summer.
For now, however, it looks as though they're set to join Villa and Chelsea on the list of Premier League clubs to be hit with a fine by UEFA, unless their accounts provide an unexpected twist.