Newcastle United are facing a possible UEFA fine after publishing their accounts for the 2024-25 campaign.
Football financial expert Stefan Borson believes Newcastle United will need to sell a star player this summer.
Toon CEO David Hopkinson confirmed a £34.7million profit when publishing the club’s annual accounts last week. However, a major caveat was the £133million sale of St James’ Park to another PIF entity.
While this provides a loophole for the Premier League’s financial rules, UEFA’s regulations are not as forgiving. It is understood that Newcastle could be forced into a settlement with the European body - similar to Chelsea and Aston Villa last year.
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‘Newcastle United will have to sell’ - Stefan Borson
Speaking to Football Insider, monetary guru Borson predicted the Magpies to fail UEFA’s squad-cost measures. He also suggested Newcastle may need to sell a prized asset to invest in the upcoming window.
“There are signs that Newcastle will have to sell somebody if they want to invest more, given what they announced about the stadium sale,” Borson said. “With European financial fair play, I would expect both Newcastle and Nottingham Forest to fail the UEFA football earnings test and probably also the squad cost ratios for the current season.
“We’ve known about that for a while, but certainly Newcastle have confirmed it in terms of their position, so they are currently in conversation with UEFA regarding a settlement. I would expect the situation with Nottingham Forest to be the same, so there’s strong reason for both of them to want to sell a player.”
Sandro Tonali for £80m?
Borson claimed Sandro Tonali - strongly linked with a St James’ Park exit - would cost potential suitors £80million. Manchester City are reportedly interested in the Italian as well as former Toon academy product Elliot Anderson.
“I do think both players (Tonali and Anderson) will probably be in the £80million ballpark. It’s unlikely (Manchester) City would sign both, but clearly they are keen to sign one.
“(Manchester) United are as well, but Tonali is more expensive than Anderson, just because the wages might be slightly higher because of his base where he’s coming from. Whereas Anderson’s probably on a lower base right now and therefore the uplift, he might be okay. But clearly, Tonali’s agent is working very hard to get him a move, that’s for sure.”
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