Was the January transfer window all planned? | OneFootball

The January transfer window has now closed, with the usual disappointment from some that we didn’t sign anyone supposedly already manifesting itself as a problem.

The club are in crisis, the squad isn’t good/strong enough etc etc.

At least to some, but not me.

It’s not always important to see a signing just for the sake of it. And I’ve seen many a disastrous January transfer window in my time as a Newcastle fan.

You know, I wonder if the January transfer window was all planned?

Newcastle United were bitten on the jacksie last summer by the PSR restrictions and were forced to sell both Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh, albeit for fantastic amounts of money, for one player with potential and another we never saw play in black and white. I would say Anderson has been a success at Forest, Minteh so-so.

However, because we probably over exerted ourselves in the transfer market a couple of seasons ago in the (unexpected) pursuit of Champions League football, unsavoury deals had to be made later on down the line.

Leaving it so close to the bone was risky.

Did the club learn their lesson? By the looks of it – Yes!

Fast forward to the here and now and some fans’ castigation of the process we’re going down this time is ridiculous and unnecessary.

I’d venture it was at least partially planned. The club likely knew that at some point between last summer and next, Miguel Almiron would be leaving. They’ve probably maximised the fee by letting him go now, rather than in June. How much Eddie Howe asked the powers that be to hold off until January is up to your own take on the matter.

However, a fee has been banked, for a player that I might add wasn’t flavour of the month a lot of the time for many supporters, despite what some fans have said this week in appraisal of his time here. You can’t say it’s a great deal, while still insisting the sale has left us short, IF you wouldn’t have played him anyway. And some fans didn’t want him anywhere near the team.

That brings me onto the sale of Lloyd Kelly to Juventus. In a word. Unbelievable.

Now some of you might think “Unbelievable” that we’d sell defensive cover without a replacement. I don’t, I’m still simply in awe of the deal.

To get £20m for a bang average centre-back that wouldn’t get many games is incredible. Is it a risk? Of course. But it’s likely Juve wouldn’t have agreed to it any other way. “£20m agreed now, or forget it” was probably the stance. How or when that £20m arrives (be it now or the summer) is of little consequence.

I wish the player well of course, he now has a fantastic opportunity to play in a different set of black and white stripes, but it’s Newcastle United I have as priority and we’ve come out winners with this deal, albeit with the risks attached.

Would I have liked his replacement in now to bed him in for next season? Naturally. But it doesn’t always work out that way. We’ve took advantage of Juventus wanting a signing now for big money, we are most likely saving that so we don’t get our pants pulled down in the same way.

When I asked at the start, was it planned? I highlight the signing of a player for chicken feed (nowt in this case) and selling him for a (massive) profit further down the line as being brilliant business. That it’s only took seven months and that someone was willing to pay £20m, only impresses/amazes me further. Those two parts of the process couldn’t have been planned or foreseen but the premise is a brilliant one.

Two deals to take into consideration, Lloyd Kelly and Jeff Hendrick. The former a brilliant piece of business from the new regime and the other a massive folly from the previous regime. Both arrived as free agents. One took an eternity to shift, the other has brought dividends almost immediately and sets the club up for future recruitment.

The Miggy and Kelly deals have set us up for the summer nicely. How much can we spend? Who knows, I’m no PSR expert. But would people have taken the risks we have taken this window or prefer to sell a golden egg this summer?

We took risks when we pushed for Champions League two seasons ago by going and signing players for big bucks and they paid off.