£300million Takeover By Staveley, £50m Transfer War Chest For Benitez: Newcastle’s Transfer Hopes Explored
The latest of many rollercoaster rides taken by Newcastle United fans surrounds the will they, won’t they takeover deal of Amanda Staveley and PCP.
As of Wednesday, the news was breaking that a deal was close to being agreed and that the takeover would be complete soon. Reports revealed that a £300million offer had been made and that it was a ‘final’ offer, meaning if Mike Ashley did not accept, then the takeover would not go through and the Toon would be back to square one.
Getting the worst case scenario out of the way first; should Staveley and her partners not agree to a takeover, it would seem there will once again be little to no money available for transfers in January. This would mean Newcastle fighting it out with around six other clubs in what looks the weakest bottom end of this league for many a year.
Newcastle, Swansea, Brighton, Stoke, West Brom and arguably Crystal Palace all have Championship squads, while the goal difference of West Ham and Huddersfield places them deep in trouble too. Which three go down could be a lottery, but it is one that Newcastle have a ticket for and should they be the unlucky ones, they would almost certainly lose Rafa Benitez too.
The Best Case Scenario
Reports emerged this week that part of Amanda Staveley’s proposal was that significant transfer funds would be made available to Rafael Benitez next month with the cost covered by PCP upon the deal finally being ratified, since a full takeover would not be completed in time for January and this, only in the case of Mike Ashley refusing to agree to a £100million refund in the event of relegation.
Should that be the case, Rafa may be looking at a kitty of around £50million with which he could go to war and that could certainly be the difference between potential relegation and a top-10 finish.
A lot of quality players have been linked with moves to Newcastle and it would be possible for Benitez to sign at least a couple of them.
There is no in between here; if the money is available, Newcastle could be transformed by the start of February. If it’s not, relegation straight back to the Championship is a distinct possibility. It is ALL about the PCP takeover being agreed.