Ian Wright believes £150million is a realistic budget for Newcastle United this summer.
BT Sport’s Ian Wright
Pundit Ian Wright has told BBC 606 that he thinks Newcastle United should be looking to spend around £150million on new signings this summer.
The Magpies guaranteed promotion to the Premier League last month, and even managed to win the Championship title with favourable results on Sunday afternoon.
Newcastle beat Barnsley 3-0 on the final day of the Championship season thanks to goals from Ayoze Perez, Chancel Mbemba and Dwight Gayle, whilst league leaders Brighton could only draw 1-1 at Aston Villa, enabling Newcastle to leapfrog them into top spot.
Now, the attention will turn to not only keeping hold of manager Rafael Benitez, but also to bringing new signings to the club, with the Magpies squad still in need of reinforcements ahead of their Premier League return.
A host of new signings are needed, with the Daily Mail claiming that Stoke captain Ryan Shawcross, Everton midfielder James McCarthy, Fulham playmaker Tom Cairney and Southampton attacker Jay Rodriguez are all top targets.
Newcastle owner Mike Ashley in the stands
Signing all four would set Newcastle back considerably in the transfer market, and with other areas of the team also needing attention, it’s clear that manager Benitez needs backing financially this summer.
On that topic, pundit Ian Wright has told BBC 606 that he thinks Benitez will obviously stay with the club, but urged owner Mike Ashley to back the Spaniard with a budget of £150million to spend on new signings.
Everton’s James McCarthy
Wright noted that good players go for around £30million in the current market, and in order to make Newcastle a force again, Ashley must dig deep and splash the cash ahead of next season.
“Rafa is obviously going to stay now,” said Wright. “For Newcastle fans, what do they want now? I’ve not heard Newcastle fans being disgruntled about the owner all season. I don’t think £150million is ridiculous (as a budget). When you consider there are players going for £30million who are only just getting into Premier League teams. £30million is nothing in the current climate – it’s nothing.”
“He’s got to do something. He’s got to get near to those kind of figures. They’re not just prices people are plucking out of the air when they say £150million. We’ve seen Manchester United paying close to £100million for a player. What’s going to happen is that they have to start paying the kind of wages that will attract people to Newcastle, for a start, and keep them there. You’ve got to start to speculate to accumulate,” he added.
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