Newcastle’s Eddie Howe bemoans financial fair play rules: ‘We can’t sign him’

Eddie Howe admitted Newcastle’s spending ability has been hampered by Financial Fair Play rules

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Eddie Howe believes Newcastle would have already been active in the transfer market during the January window had the club not been held back by Financial Fair Play restrictions.

The club were dealt a further blow to their already injury-plagued season when Joelinton was ruled out for six weeks during a quad injury sustained during the Magpies’ FA Cup win over local rivals Sunderland.

Along with the Brazilian, Sandro Tonali is suspended, Nick Pope, Joe Willock, Harvey Barnes, Jacob Murphy and Callum Wilson are also among the 10 players currently unavailable to manager Howe.

On Thursday the club announced pre-tax losses of £73m for the 2022-23 season, and Howe admitted that has impacted their ability to sign new players.

"In an ideal world, given the freedom to act we would have brought players in already," the manager said, reported by Sky Sports.

"But we’re not in that situation - as Darren [Eales, Newcastle CEO] alluded to on Thursday, Financial Fair Play is a problem for us, and we’re having to navigate round that.

"That’s the position we’re in. When does it become a problem? It’s already one, but we’re trying to manage through it."

Among the numerous players being linked to Newcastle is a striker Howe signed when he was Bournemouth boss, Dominic Solanke. The striker is expected to be in high demand with a number of clubs looking to fill a gap at centre forward, but the manager does not believe the Magpies will be in the mix.

“It’s a frustrating story. Yes I love Dominic Solanke, I signed him and rate him very highly, but we’ve not made an inquiry for him and we don’t have the ability to sign a player of that level,” Howe said.

Premier League FFP rules state that any club can only lose a maximum of £105m over any three-year period, and Newcastle’s losses for last season are over two-thirds of that.