During his press conference for the Man City game, Newcastle manager, Eddie Howe, responded to questions about the club’s interest in Bournemouth’s Dominic Solanke.
Whilst Howe, who signed the striker for the Cherries, accepted that he really rated the player, he also shut down any rumours by definitively saying that Newcastle just couldn’t afford him at this point.
Despite the evident riches of the owners, the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), Financial Fair Play is seemingly biting Newcastle just as hard as anyone else.
That said, they still retain an interest in one Premier League ace.
“Newcastle remain interested in Kalvin Phillips. He’s one of the players they have in the list but nothing is advanced yet because of Financial Fair Play,” Fabrizio Romano said in his exclusive Daily Briefing for CaughtOffside.
“Let’s see if other clubs will join the race for Phillips – I’d keep him as an option for Newcastle, by the way, because the deal with Juventus is currently off, as talks have not advanced since December.”
With 18 days left of the current window, there’s still plenty of time to get a deal over the line, but how that deal would look is anyone’s guess at the moment.
Man City are clearly unable to offer Phillips anything like the playing time he requires in order to be able to stake his claim for a place in England’s European Championship squad.
To that end, even if any deal is a loan-to-buy, that’s likely to be an acceptable – if not the ideal – solution for all parties at this stage.