Newcastle came close to nabbing Watford forward Joao Pedro last August. The Magpies continued negotiations after a round of bids were rejected with the final one totaling around £30m.
Further bids never materialized as Newcastle decided to make a much bigger splash with the signing of Alexander Isak for a club-record fee. Watford eventually tied Pedro down on a new long-term deal to 2028 with Isak now the toast of Tyneside after his recent displays.
The Athletic is reporting that Pedro is still on The Magpies’ radar as they continue to track his progress. However, Watford’s demands will only increase if any clubs come knocking this summer. There is little chance Newcastle will meet Watford’s valuation after coming up short nine months ago.
The 21-year-old has bagged 9 goals with a further 2 assists in the Championship this term. His versatility, an aspect of his game that Eddie Howe covets, has been on full display. He has been deployed across the front three as well as a number 10.
Watford are struggling in their return to England’s second flight. They are currently in 10th and 5 points adrift from a playoff place. Failure to gain promotion could affect the Brazilian’s desire to remain at Vicarage Road.
Pedro has other admires in England as well as Serie A giants AC Milan. Watford’s sporting director Cristiano Giaretta is unfazed by the interest in his star telling Tuttomercatoweb the following:
“I can say that he has an ‘England’ price, we haven’t received any requests or proposals from Italy.
“He has many admirers in the Premier League but the truth, and we are happy about it, is that he is 110 percent focused on our run-up to the play-offs.”
If Watford hold firm to their demands, the ship on a move to Newcastle has likely sailed for Pedro. Newcastle showed in August they will not bow to meet Watford’s valuation. That is unlikely to change this summer despite what is expected to be a larger budget.
189 comments so far
cleveleysbob
Mar 22, 2023 at 2:40 PM
Comment #41I read that Chronic article about sponsorship and was interested in the comments by someone who specialises in this area. He basically said we aren’t in a position to match the “top 6” clubs with sponsorship deals and that even our “shirt deal” will probably need to be around £20M tops pa. This, in part is to get past PL guidelines and secondly, that’s realistically where we are at the moment. Not “top 6” level but “best of the rest”.
He claimed the way round this was a deal heavily influenced by bonuses.
So we could have a base line sponsorship on our shirt for £20M, with a further £10M based on CL entry, a further £10M if we got out of the group stages, a further £10M if we win a domestic cup etc. So, if we had a successful season, we’d get as much money in as the top 6, without breaking any PL guidelines. He felt if we tried to announce a £50M/yr deal up front to match current top 6 levels, it would get knocked back.
Be interesting to see what we do.
Transfer Sage
Mar 22, 2023 at 2:40 PM
Comment #42Clint
I’d still argue you need a good coach not just a man manager. Guardiola may have the most money and ready made players but even then is teams are still even better than the sum of their parts 95% of the time….but I get the point.
I like seeing players develop and improve, I like bringing in a younger player and seeing how excited they are just to be on the pitch and I want there to be jeopardy in every game.
People will probably laugh at me for this but I’d rather see us a championship side being tested every week than being a side who blows everyone out the water and wins the premier league by 20 points.
Sure it might be nice for one season, but easy wins get old pretty quick. The thing which makes sport enjoyable isn’t always the quality on show but the even competition between two individuals or teams.
Wor B
Mar 22, 2023 at 2:41 PM
Comment #43Dazzler
I’ve bookmarked this page for the attention of Charlton Heston in the far distant future. 🙂
Ruddy Marveaux-lous
Mar 22, 2023 at 2:47 PM
Comment #44TS
Yeah, of the two I would much prefer the Liverpool model than the City model. In fact, Liverpool’s troubles have come from spending big money badly – with the exception of VVD and Allison. Nuñez is a Uruguayan Andy Carroll (he’s better than that but I find the description funny), Jota and Dias have had injury issues, Konate and Keita haven’t hit the heights expected of them, while the jury is out on Gakpo.
Liverpool develop well and unearth gems whereas City spend big money well and acclimate these big money signings into their squad better than Liverpool do. However, for as good as Liverpool have been these past few seasons, they would have won nothing without spending absolutely massive sums of money on VVD and Allison – both of whom were elite, albeit not playing at elite level clubs. So, if we want to cut through, I’d suspect we may need to sign elite players, although hopefully not from elite clubs.
cleveleysbob
Mar 22, 2023 at 2:49 PM
Comment #45The caveat to #41 above is that we don’t really know what the PL would do if we for example finished in top 4 this year and qualified for CL as well as reaching a cup final, then they might accept a well presented argument that we are now worth £50M/yr on our shirts.
Time will tell.
In fairness, the guy was talking about our interest to other outside major sponsors, not Saudi based ones. Like Nike or Adidas, or Barclays who I suspect wouldn’t come near us with a barge pole given our history with them. 😆
Transfer Sage
Mar 22, 2023 at 2:51 PM
Comment #46Ruddy
I’d completely agree. We’d want to develop talent from a mix of academy and/or smaller clubs, like Bruno and supplement that with high quality.
I get the Van Dijk / Alison point but like you say, they weren’t coming from another elite club, Liverpool was their first elite club. That’s what I want us to do if we need to.
Ideally though, I’d like us to find and develop those players before they are picked up. We get them before they join a Dortmund or RB Liepzig, etc as oppose to after they’ve had a couple years there and cost 100 million.
CLINT FLICK
Mar 22, 2023 at 2:55 PM
Comment #47Cbob
That guy’s probably just trying to second guess what happens next, tbh.
The old, male journo ego, ‘n all that!?!
😀
Ruddy Marveaux-lous
Mar 22, 2023 at 2:55 PM
Comment #48TS
I agree that picking players up before they become elite is the way to go, and as someone mentioned earlier, seems to be the way Borussia Dortmund conduct their business before selling said players on for big money (usually to Bayern)
That’s the model I want to see us replicate but on a global scale and from the roles we’re seeing being advertised by the club – emerging talent scouts across the UK, Europe and South America this appears to be the process we’re looking to follow.
The infrastructure being put in place at the club currently looks very exciting and I cannot wait to see it bear fruit in the coming years.
Raj of Hailsley
Mar 22, 2023 at 2:57 PM
Comment #49TS,
Every club wants to develop their own players in the Dortmund style but it’s a lot easier said than done.
dazzler
Mar 22, 2023 at 2:57 PM
Comment #50Wor B,
It’s a good job my grandad forced me to watch planet of the apes as a kid so I understood that reference 😀
CLINT FLICK
Mar 22, 2023 at 2:58 PM
Comment #51TS
You pick out Pep as an eg…but he’s a one off, mate…just like Eddie!
😉
Mostly, it’s like you said earlier…’managing’ egos in bought teams.
Check out Conte et al. Just bop from ‘big name club’ to ‘big name club’… expecting money fir more ‘big names’ to ‘manage’.
cleveleysbob
Mar 22, 2023 at 3:00 PM
Comment #52On the article above, I’d take Pedro in a heartbeat.
We need players of this ilk. If we assume Gordon, Isak, Miggy is to be our current best front 3, then a player like Pedro who could play in any of those 3 positions and do a good job, would be worth his weight in gold. Perfect cover for entire front line for suspensions, injuries, or just rest rotation, which will become a factor given Eddie’s fitness regime along with more games in Europe/Cups etc.
We’ve got Joelinton as cover for Gordon, Murphy as cover for Miggy and Wilson as cover for Isak, which is OK, but Pedro could cover for all 3 positions and with the exception of Joelinton is probably better than all the rest. (I’m assuming ASM is going in Summer). 🙂
Transfer Sage
Mar 22, 2023 at 3:00 PM
Comment #53Ruddy
It’s great to see this finally happening.
It all harks back to the previous owner, who will not be named for our collective mental health reasons.
If he had just invested the clubs money in proper, modern departments with the right people, we could have been a talent factory like Dortmund, Red Bull teams, etc.
We’d could easily have then had better commercial revenue and better income from player sales, all whilst watching better football. We’d then not have had a bad word to say about a certain sports retailer branding all around the stadium.
Davas
Mar 22, 2023 at 3:02 PM
Comment #54I’ve been wondering too about sponsorship since the Saudi airlines have been mentioned on here. I would love to see some massive company that is nothing to do with PIF or KSA see that the club is going places and view it as an opportunity to join in at an early stage and offer big sponsorship to be part of it as they feel it would be worth it.
I wonder how the PL would react to that..
JohnJ
Mar 22, 2023 at 3:04 PM
Comment #55I’d like to see NUFC win the EPL before I head away to pastures as yet unknown!
A cup win would be a bonus!!
I recon the £5 (at 66/1) I put on Toon to win the league this season is pretty safe in the bookies hands – don’t suppose I’ll see it again.
Looks like it’s between Arsenal and Manchester City.
🙁
The Taco Taker
Mar 22, 2023 at 3:05 PM
Comment #56Cleverly I read that article too and it makes a lot of sense. I think it is correct that we won’t be able to justify a shirt deal as good as any of the big 6 yet, but should be able to justify one bigger than anyone outside the big 6.
The other reason for a hugely incentivised deal is to avoid being locked into a deal which is bad in the medium term as was also pointed out in the article.
The Ledge
Mar 22, 2023 at 3:06 PM
Comment #57“I’d take Robertson over Chilwell, Tierney or Hickey, if not him I’ll take Canelo off Bayern”
Who said this ?
Transfer Sage
Mar 22, 2023 at 3:06 PM
Comment #58Raj
I’d agree every club wants to but some are more actively trying to than others. Yes City may spend a fortune on their academy but they don’t see to have very clear pathways to the first team as they want to work with proven players.
It takes a very strong club to accept their may be dips in performance at times to get younger players the right chances and not to hit that panic button on the manager or go out and sign a proven player.
The Taco Taker
Mar 22, 2023 at 3:08 PM
Comment #59Davas, that would be amusing. If it was a company with no connection to KSA the premier league would not have a leg to stand on in terms saying the deal is artificially high.
Ruddy Marveaux-lous
Mar 22, 2023 at 3:11 PM
Comment #60Note to self: don’t paraphrase… 🙄
Transfer Sage
Mar 22, 2023 at 3:11 PM
Comment #61Clint
Pep is definitely a one of a kind and has probably driven more tactical change in football than anyone else in the past 20 years, he’s been phenomenal and constantly develops his tactics.
Conte is a good example. He still has clear patterns of play he coaches into his teams. Yes he wants the top top players to do it but so do most elite managers.
I’m sure there was a recent study done which shows that something like 90% of where a team finishes in the league is driven by wages spent in comparison to others in their league…ie. spend more, finish higher.
But I’d argue that kind of applies to the manager too. You need somebody with a clear tactical strategy and usually the top managers are drawn to the top clubs.
Sir Pugalot, the Dutch Bulldog
Mar 22, 2023 at 3:14 PM
Comment #62Dazler #37. 8.95? marking is so subjective.
Davas
Mar 22, 2023 at 3:16 PM
Comment #63TTT
I’ve been wondering if/hoping that would happen ever since Amanda said about companies, other than Saudi linked, being interested in sponsorship.
The Taco Taker
Mar 22, 2023 at 3:19 PM
Comment #64For all those who seem certain that Maxi will be off the summer:
Newcastle United coaches think Allan Saint-Maximin is most effective in home matches against deep-sitting opponents.
Journalist Chris Waugh told the Athletic what he has heard from people inside the club about the £16.5 million French forward.
Saint-Maximin was almost Newcastle’s only source of attacking threat at times under Steve Bruce, but has struggled to find his place at times since the takeover.
The Bruce regime relied on him to often show his counter-attacking quality, but Howe’s staff now think he is better at breaking down massed ranks at St James’ Park.
“The thing with Allan Saint-Maximin is, and this is what they think inside the club as well, is that he still does bring something different to Newcastle, particularly in home matches against sides who sit deep,” Waugh said.
“Allan Saint-Maximin is still vital to Newcastle, certainly in the short to medium term.
“He might not really have performed on Friday night, whether that was down to injury or not, he is still someone who is highly valued within the club.”
CLINT FLICK
Mar 22, 2023 at 3:19 PM
Comment #65TS
Yea, there are a whole host of factors to be considered. One being historical draw of certain teams. But, ya know, manc were nothing ’til the TO. As low as 3rd tier.
So, new kids can make the block.
Toon fans bad
Mar 22, 2023 at 3:21 PM
Comment #66I reckon 50 mill/yr is certainly achievable for a shirt and stadium sponsorship package.
The overrated Frenchman
Mar 22, 2023 at 3:21 PM
Comment #67For some reason Newcastle don’t seem to have the capacity to appoint coaches who have the ability to develop young players into outstanding players. For as long as I remember we hire one dud after another. It’s a curious thing.
CLINT FLICK
Mar 22, 2023 at 3:22 PM
Comment #68Taco
Isn’t that because Maxi isn’t as required to defend against a low block at hyem?
CLINT FLICK
Mar 22, 2023 at 3:24 PM
Comment #69Plus…we must talk Maxi up if we wanna get good money for him.
Toon fans bad
Mar 22, 2023 at 3:28 PM
Comment #70CF,
You are correct pal, higher percentage of possession Maxi will be running at their low block more often, ergo less defending. It’s just maths. More attacks, better probability of a breach pal.
Transfer Sage
Mar 22, 2023 at 3:31 PM
Comment #71Taco
I’d agree with that on ASM and that’s what I’ve said a few times over the past month or two where he is still valuable for us. The problem is, he still isn’t producing that much but you can see it’s what we need.
I think if we buy a proper 10 like Maddison that gives us the creativity. Then if we buy a player to allow Bruno to start that little bit higher up, we’ll hopefully have that creativity there to be more effective against those teams.
Toon fans bad
Mar 22, 2023 at 3:34 PM
Comment #72I’d cut Maxi loose for 25 mill. I can’t be sentimental about it. He’s played an important role in preventing us from starting this journey in the Champo and we’ll always be grateful for that.
Which players become available in the summer could decide whether he stays or not I suppose.
CLINT FLICK
Mar 22, 2023 at 3:34 PM
Comment #73Tfb
Makes sense, huh?
CLINT FLICK
Mar 22, 2023 at 3:36 PM
Comment #74Tfb
Agreed.
Toon fans bad
Mar 22, 2023 at 3:36 PM
Comment #75Gordon wasn’t bought on a whim.
The Taco Taker
Mar 22, 2023 at 3:36 PM
Comment #76Clint,
There could be a variety of reasons I just posted the quote as I remain unconvinced that it is a given that Maxi is a gonna. Just my view but he offers a different skillset to anyone else in our front line and as such is a useful member of the squad. To me the entire point of a squad is to have different options who can cause an opponent different problems.
TFB,
Shirt and stadium combined perhaps but the article Clevely and I were referring to was discussion about a shirt sponsor in isolation.
The Ledge
Mar 22, 2023 at 3:38 PM
Comment #77“I think Burn has become one of our most steady, reliable players and whilst I liked targett I don’t think anyone else in the league would bring more to that position… except maybe cencelo!!”
Ye you shouldn’t especially when it was in response to this post by digger .
Lee Charnley Bunga Party
Mar 22, 2023 at 3:41 PM
Comment #78That’s interesting that they think ASM is effective against teams that play a low block at home as you could argue that is probably when he is at his worst!!As he gets crowded out and runs out of ideas when was the last time he scored a goal against a team like that ? Watford in Dec 2021?
He always seems to perform better in games where it is open City at home they were wide open and Wolves played a crazy high line which allowed him to exploit
CLINT FLICK
Mar 22, 2023 at 3:42 PM
Comment #79Taco
Could be right, mate.
But, almost everyone thinks we need more creativity.
So, that would suggest that our ‘so-called’ most creative player ain’t doing it.
If someone does get brought in to do that, where does that leave Maxi in the order of things?
Toon fans bad
Mar 22, 2023 at 3:43 PM
Comment #80Taco,
I’m more than happy for you and Cleverleys to continue your ‘shirt only’ sponsorship discussion pal. I’m merely adding that a package for 50 millionsquillion is achievable 😆