Newcastle United Fan View: Toon linked with Chelsea loan trio

Since Newcastle United’s season ended a couple of weeks ago, talk in the press and on social media has turned to transfers – both in and out. The press are labeling it a “whirlwind” summer for Newcastle United as Rafa wants players in early and I for one hope this is indeed the case; I have lost count of the number of transfer windows where we have been involved in long drawn out transfer negotiations, only for them to crumble in the final days of the window, leaving us with nothing. Getting business done early would allow the new signings to gel and to have a full pre-season at the club – but getting transfers done early is easier said than done.

Newcastle United have been linked with a different player ever single day over the past fortnight and whilst a lot of the rumours are just that – rumours, stories around Rafa moving in on Chelsea for Kurt Zouma, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tammy Abraham appear to be more concrete and the speculation surrounding their moves to the North East is definitely gathering pace. All 3 players are top class, of that there is no doubt; they are exactly the kind of player we should be targeting for our return to the Premier League but the fact that they would only be joining on loan doesn’t sit all that well with me.

This week, Newcastle United confirmed their first signing; Chelsea winger Christian Atsu signing a permanent deal following his season long loan from Chelsea. When Atsu signed for Newcastle United on loan at the start of the 16/17 season, a future fee clause of £6.5m was placed in his contract, giving Newcastle the option to sign him permanently at the end of the season. It was a win/win situation for all parties; Newcastle get the chance to trial a player throughout a season, Chelsea get to farm out a player who wouldn’t be anywhere near their first team and also have the potential to make a tidy profit on a player who (correct me if I am wrong here) has never donned a Chelsea shirt in his life. They signed him for £3m and sold him for £6.5m. Easy money. The Christian Atsu signing is a great example of why a loan deal with a future fee clause is the perfect way to conduct a transfer and I am all for this kind of loan deal. However, the trio of Chelsea players we have been linked with this week are not likely to have such a clause placed in their contract.

Kurt Zouma and Ruben Loftus-Cheek have both played for Chelsea this season and both players have a big, big future in the game. Tammy Abraham showed that he has the potential and the talent to play at the highest level when this season he shone in a fairly average Bristol City side in the EFL Championship. If we were to make moves for any of these players then I suspect getting Chelsea to agree to a future fee clause will be tricky – or very, very expensive. Why would they want to sell 3 of their brightest talents?

One argument would be that Chelsea are competing at the very highest level of football; they have won the league this season and will next season be targeting Champions League glory – will this trio of players get a chance at Chelsea or will Chelsea be targeting world class players to bring in to their side? Money is no object to Chelsea; they can and undoubtedly will, make moves for some of the best players in world football but Chelsea also invest heavily in young talent and they are very successful at it too.

I wrote an article earlier on the season about Chelsea and how at one stage they had 30+ players out on loan. What is frightening is the players they have out on loan are all top class, young players; we’re not talking Riviere or De Jong type loans – these are players who would walk in to most of the top sides in Europe – just Google “Chelsea Loan Players” and it will show you a list of players that most of you would take in a heartbeat. There is a problem with this system though and the problem is that it is rare that Chelsea utilise these players’ loan development within their own side. Often, these players are loaned out, they do well and they are sold for a profit (see Christian Atsu). This may change under Antonio Conte but it does mean there is a glimmer of hope if Rafa wants to make the signings of Zouma, Loftus-Cheek and Abraham permanent although it will come at a price, a very high price.

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Whilst I have no doubt that all 3 players would strengthen our side next season, I would genuinely feel a little uneasy if they were just signed on loan for a season with no clauses built in to make the signing permanent. If we loan them and they perform, then great, all the better for Newcastle United but in the long term all we are doing in developing a rival’s teams players and making them stronger. No, we can’t compete with Chelsea, they may be in the same league but they are a different caliber of team to us. One day I would like to say we can compete but in order to do that we need to build a team, we need a long term plan and whilst I am sure a loan signing or two wouldn’t be the end of the world, we need to be targeting these types of player to take Newcastle forward over the next 5-10 years, not simply to showcase their talents for 9 months of the year.

Regardless of the outcome of this latest transfer rumour, it promises to be a very exciting summer for Newcastle United fans. On that note I bid you all farewell for the summer and I will be back sometime in July writing about the players we have signed, those who have left and looking ahead at what could well be an interesting return to the Premier League!