One of the inevitable things that comes with having football's richest owners is a belief that Newcastle United can afford to sign any player and pay any wages, which of course isn't true thanks to Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
However, despite that massive hurdle and the fact that everybody knows about it, Newcastle are still persistently linked with players with wages well above their current cap.
For instance, Dusan Vlahovic. The Juventus striker may be available for a reasonable fee, but the Serbian is on an eye-watering £315k-a-week according to Capology. He'd need to cut his wages in half if he wanted to join Newcastle, which he's very unlikely to want to do.
Another high-profile name that keeps popping up next to that of Newcastle United is Manchester City's Jack Grealish, and it's coming back with a vengeance now.
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There is not a single thought behind those eyes
The Athletic are peddling the idea that Newcastle are interested in Jack Grealish
There are certain publications that put transfer stories out there that we will cover, but won't put a lot of stock in, then there's The Athletic, which tends to really know what they're talking about. They aren't 100% accurate, obviously, but when they write something, people tend to take note.
So now that the Jack Grealish to Newcastle thing has appeared in The Athletic, could it be time to start believing that there's a genuine interest there?
In fairness, there's nothing concrete here, just a belief that Newcastle are interested in a loan move for the player City paid £100 million for back in 2021.
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The numbers don't make sense unless Man City chip in
Like Vlahovic, Grealish is on a pretty penny. Capology has it at £300k-a-week, so if a loan deal were to happen we'd expect that Man City would have to continue to pay a big chunk of his wages.
However, reading what The Athletic have said about Grealish, do we even want him on loan?
"Even Jack Grealish has split opinion among the City support — there are plenty who dispute his impact on the club’s treble success, despite his importance to Guardiola’s game plan and his consistency during that particular season. His fitness problems over the two years since have done little to win him any more supporters and he could leave this summer, most likely on loan, with Newcastle United among those interested."
We've never been sold on the idea, but at the same time, if he could recapture that magic he had at Aston Villa before he sold his soul and started ragging on Miguel Almiron, he could be worth a punt.