Newcastle United have significant wiggle room on the wage bill after losing Anthony Gordon, Sandro Tonali and Kieran Trippier.
Newcastle United have trimmed a staggering £35.1million per year off their wage bill this summer.
And if talisman Bruno Guimaraes - the club’s highest earner - joins Arsenal, that figure would rise to £43.5million. The Magpies have been raided by those with deeper pockets since the Premier League season concluded.
Toon chiefs wasted no time in offloading Anthony Gordon to Barcelona for £70million. Despite finishing 17th for two consecutive seasons, the financial rules allowed Tottenham Hotspur to prise Sandro Tonali away from St James’ Park.
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Newcastle United headroom
Fans now face a triple whammy as Guimaraes angles for a move to Arsenal. The Brazilian earns a reported £160,000 per week on Tyneside and is on holiday after being given extra time off due to his World Cup commitments.
According to Spotrac, Gordon raked in around £150,000 per week as Newcastle. Tonali (£120,000) was also one of the club’s highest-paid players.
Add in the likes of Kieran Trippier (£120,000), Aaron Ramsdale (£120,000), Matt Targett (£100,000), Emil Krafth (£55,000) and John Ruddy (£15,000) - who all left when their contracts expired last month - and Newcastle have quite the headroom. That will be somewhat offset by the arrivals of Ewan Jaouen, Bazoumana Toure and Sean Steur, who are not thought to be on top-end wages.
A different kind of headroom…
Newcastle were always likely to cash in on a big player this summer. Fans had been warned, although the exodus that is taking place was perhaps not envisaged.
Unlike the established “big six” clubs, the Magpies cannot afford to blunder a transfer window. Every signing must be a hit. The annual accounts placed Newcastle as the 17th-richest club in world football.
However, with revenues of £335.3million, Newcastle remain distantly behind their competitors. For context, Spurs netted £565.3million in the same financial year, with Manchester United making as much from commercial ventures as the Magpies’ entire earnings.
"When I think about our competitors, they are formidable and they have already got a head start on us,” CEO David Hopkinson told reporters in March. “But all they've got is a head start on us and we've got a tremendous opportunity for growth right in front of us.
"We've used the phrase 'headroom' in terms of a player budget, but what I also look at is the commercial opportunity. We have significant headroom to catch up. It means we've got to work harder. We've got to work smarter with high conviction and energy every single day to capture that headroom. We've got to catch these guys."
Newcastle United exodus (wages per year)
*Bruno Guimaraes - £8.3million
Anthony Gordon - £7.8million
Sandro Tonali - £6.2million
Kieran Trippier - £6.2million
Aaron Ramsdale - £6.2million
Matt Targett - £5.2million
Emil Krafth - £2.8million
John Ruddy - £780k
*As it stands, Bruno Guimaraes remains a Newcastle player. Sources indicate that he wants to move to Arsenal this summer.
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