Sporting director Ross Wilson is ready to accelerate plans to allow Newcastle United to make the most of their academy.
The Newcastle United academy has produced some promising talents in recent years. Elliot Anderson may have left the club but came through their ranks on his way to becoming an England international.
Lewis Miley, meanwhile, continues to play an important role under Eddie Howe at Newcastle United.
In a world dominated by the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), academy players take on an added importance.
Though undoubtedly a cynical view, players who are produced within the academy system and are sold on go down as ‘pure profit’ on a club’s balance sheet under the current PSR framework.
With that in mind, Wilson’s plans behind the scenes make an awful lot of sense.
David Hopkinson meets Steve Harper at Newcastle United academy.
Photo by Serena Taylor/Newcastle United via Getty Images
Ross Wilson looking to appoint two new Newcastle United academy scouts
According to The Daily Mail, Wilson has been spending time with the club’s academy of late.
The fact is that selling academy players helps balance the books with PSR. The report adds that Newcastle are aware that they have not exploited that loophole particularly well in recent years.
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It goes on to suggest that Wilson will move to appoint scouts in London and Greater London to help the club identify burgeoning talent around the country.
Newcastle United have another major problem with their academy and it’s holding them back
The young players currently on the books at the club just aren’t putting themselves in the shop window out on loan.
Newcastle’s young players who are out on loan are struggling this season and are doing little to raise their market value.
Questions need to be asked of those in charge of picking these loan clubs for them. Yankuba Minteh saw his market value skyrocket during a loan stint at Feyenoord but he remains the one success story from a Newcastle perspective.
If Newcastle fail to give their young players the chance to impress out on loan, it’s difficult to imagine them making much money by way of academy player sales.