Sandro Tonali is set to move to Tottenham Hotspur in a deal worth up to 100 million pounds, making him the third high-profile player to leave Newcastle United in less than 12 months. Alexander Isak completed a British record 125 million pound move to Liverpool last summer. Anthony Gordon left for Barcelona in a 69 million pound deal before the current window even opened.
According to BBC Sport, Newcastle's shift to a selling model is tied directly to the club's financial situation under both Premier League and UEFA regulations. The club finished 12th in the Premier League last season and will not be competing in European football.
Newcastle made it clear this week they were "committed to full ongoing compliance" as part of a settlement with UEFA following a breach of its financial sustainability regulations. The club previously sold midfielder Elliot Anderson to Nottingham Forest in 2024 to avoid a breach of the Premier League's profit and sustainability rules.
The financial constraints shaping these decisions are layered. The Premier League's squad-cost ratio regulations allow clubs not competing in UEFA competitions to spend upwards of 85 percent of their football-related revenue and net profit from player sales. UEFA's rules, by contrast, restrict clubs competing in Europe to a 70 percent spend. But Newcastle's senior figures warned that building up large losses in a single window, even without European competition, would create serious risk if the club later qualified for Europe, because UEFA's football earnings rule runs across a three-year period.
The numbers behind Newcastle's trading history make the pressure clearer. In 2024, senior figures inside the club noted that Newcastle made only 12 million pounds profit on player disposals in the previous three-year cycle. The average among the Premier League's six highest-earning clubs during the same period was 156 million pounds. The other 13 clubs brought in an average of more than 60 million pounds.
The sales of Gordon and Tonali are central to creating the financial room Newcastle needs to reinvest this summer. Without Champions League revenue, the club has had to become, as BBC Sport put it, better sellers. The Tonali deal, if it reaches its full value, would represent one of the largest sales in the club's history.
Tonali joined Newcastle from AC Milan in 2023 but served a 10-month ban for betting violations before returning to the pitch. His departure now leaves Newcastle searching for reinforcements in the transfer window they partly funded through his sale.
