Newcastle backed away from £70m Marc Guehi deal to end ‘Saudi tax’ on transfers

Newcastle United’s sporting director, Paul Mitchell, has said that he had to walk away from the deal to sign Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace to set a precedent that showed the club would not be taken advantage of in the transfer market.

The club’s hierarchy have complained that, since its takeover by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund almost three years ago, a “Newcastle tax” was being demanded if they enquired about signing players.

Mitchell said one of the first things he had to do after his appointment in July, end the club’s practice of inflated prices – even though it had led to a “frustrating” end to the transfer window.

In his first window in charge of recruitment, Mitchell failed to sign a player to improve manager Eddie Howe’s team. However, he argued it was more important to take a long-term strategic view in a Profit and Sustainability (PSR) world than make a signing for “the sake of his ego”.

He said: “Is there a point of value for every single player and did, maybe, this football club need to draw a line in the sand of ‘we’re not going to overpay?’

“Looking at the players we have signed – and we’ve signed some really good players – could we say that some of those players, potentially, cost more money than they should have done in the market at that current context? You probably could have that argument and discussion.

“For this club to come out and say actually, we really liked this player and thought he could have brought benefit to this squad, but [ask] is it at any cost? Is it at financial risk to the organisation and our growth and our plan?

“I don’t think we should do that. That’s a personal choice. Others might have a different opinion on that but I do take that part of my job seriously.

“Would it have been easier to sit in front of you all with hallmark signings that cost a load of money? Of course it would. But ultimately have them at the detriment to Newcastle’s ability to grow and high strategic ambitions for Paul Mitchell’s glorification – that’s not the job I’m paid to do. I’m paid to do the job in the short, medium and the long term.”

‘Not a lack of ambition’

Mitchell admitted it was tempting to pay whatever it took to sign a player, but said it would be damaging to the club in future transfer windows.

“The [Newcastle tax] was a real thing,” he explained.

“It’s about setting precedents to the market that we will pay fair value for the right profile [of player] for sure.

“It shouldn’t be misconceived of a lack of ambition, I just think that’s the model you have to work in the modern game now. There’s a lot of common factors that we need to adjust to make sure we keep being sustainably successful.

“It should not be lobbied against ambition because if we just spend, spend, spend, spend once again, we become accountable to that by penalties, fines and points deductions and that isn’t good leadership, that isn’t being a good custodian of the club, that isn’t taking your role responsibly, you’re being negligent. That is only for one thing, it’s for your ego. We’re not going to do that.

“I think ultimately, unless we felt like, and I say we, and I think unless Eddie [Howe] really felt a player was going to have a difference and bring a difference to the starting XI, I think he even said this in the pre-match against Southampton, we’d rather not overpay. That once again in the next window could become a limiting factor for the future, but also the recognition we have a really good team full of internationals.”

Mitchell insisted his relationship with Howe has developed well, and they are “in daily contact” sometimes with phone calls “lasting an hour”.

‘You cannot just keep spending’

He said: “In every relationship I’ve had with coaches, and I’ve been doing this a long time, with a lot of different coaches from a lot of different cultures, they ebb and flow.

“The core foundation is the respect part, but you’re going to have points of contact, because it’s a stressful industry we work in, where you might have to have a strong debate.

“But that doesn’t mean it’s wrong. Positive conflict is still healthy to move forward and that part of the relationship can’t be all Eddie’s way or Paul Mitchell’s way, it’s got to be a collaboration of both.

“What I’ve seen of Eddie Howe and how good a coach he is, he is super impressive on the grass – and I’ve got pretty good context with the ones I’ve worked with – and what I think I can bring to the table, I’m excited to see where that can take us.”

Mitchell, though, did take a thinly veiled swipe at his predecessor, Dan Ashworth, who left the club in February to take up a similar position with Manchester United.

Ashworth, who spent two years in charge at St James’s Park, was supposed to improve Newcastle’s scouting network and recruitment practices, but Mitchell claimed this area that needed extensive modernisation.

“Should our scouting and recruitment be driven more extensively with a wider reaching net?” he asked reporters, in his first sit-down interview since his appointment.

“It definitely should be because this is becoming a really nuanced space now, when you just can’t capitally fund everything every year, buying loads of players at peak age and peak price.

“That’s the responsibility of me, the scouting team, the recruitment team and Eddie. To do that, to look at that. Is it fit for purpose?

“Is it fit for purpose in the modern game, with the modern challenges? Because other clubs that have maybe adopted a different approach over time, with more intelligence, maybe more data-informed than we are, actually prospered, didn’t they, this window? And I think that’s where we have to grow.

“Was, let’s say, the scouting network, the lengths and breadths of our process bigger and broader enough? Probably not. And that’s the bit we analyse to be better. That’s the bit where we have to adjust and modernise.

“Maybe that’s a bit of reality as well. Can we spend to the same level as what we’ve spent the last two-and-a-half years? When sustainability is real, you cannot keep spending and not selling any football players. The math doesn’t work.

“You look at the teams that have really heavily spent this summer, they’ve sold players at certain points in the last couple of years, we haven’t.”

Despite a window described as “embarrasing” by former Newcastle captain Alan Shearer and the failure to strengthen Howe’s first choice XI, Mitchell remained bullish about Newcastle’s chances this season.

He said: “With the current quality of individuals we have and collective experience, with the current quality of head coach we have, should we be getting into Europe in some context this year? I think that is a realistic ambition, I do.

“Because I think we are a good team and we have an excellent head coach who will be with us on this journey for a long time.

“I think last year there were a lot of different contributing factors that still need to be assessed [number of injuries and extra games in Europe].

“There were a lot of different challenges that this club for a long time hadn’t faced before, that we no longer have. I think the quality and growth of some of our young players, the experience that we currently have.

“Keeping your best players, that was also a challenge for us this year – to keep the drivers of the team, the talent, the quality, that was also something we had to work hard towards, and I think we succeeded.

“European football as an ambition is a realistic one, I think for everyone, and that has to be the challenge for us all.”