Newcastle United's £466m potential to close gap on 'revenue monsters' has rivals nervous

Newcastle United chiefs will now feel that the tweaking of the PSR rule book in seasons to come will at least give them an opportunity to compete.

The rules saw them completely hamstrung and contemplating having to sell to buy last January before being guided by Eddie Howe to retain senior stars like Kieran Trippier, on the end of a cash bid from Bayern Munich, and Callum Wilson, who was the subject of a paltry loan fee offer from Atletico Madrid. Once the new rules, which will see a spending cap introduced, are applied they won't come into effect until the 2025/26 season.

That leaves Newcastle will another summer of working with the Premier League's current rules and regulations on spending and another window in which they will have to cut their cloth accordingly. It's a situation that Newcastle are happy to get on with and there should be more flexibility on the horizon.

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But the Premier League's big guns do see a problem with the prospect of teams using a £466million spending cap. Indeed, Man City, Man United and Aston Villa know that this could allow the Magpies to play catch up and for some of the revenue monsters in the top-flight to have their wings clipped.

Man City, who delivered a whopping £700million in revenue last time out, will argue that they are being told what to do with their cash and that they have a limit on spending it. As Newcastle try to chase down the revenue gap, currently standing at around £500m between themselves and City, the new rules could be something of a leveller.

The craziest aspect of the new rules has to be the fact that teams that don't qualify for Europe, and aren't under the financial glare of UEFA's own PSR glare, will be able to spend 85% of their club revenue on transfer fees, wages and agent fees. So perhaps the bigger forces in the Premier League should have more concerns than just Newcastle breaking out of the pack.

This season's Premier League table is more than intriguing and had the rules come in this summer, then you could have a Chelsea, Bournemouth, Brighton or Wolves with some serious spending clout and easily able to close the gap on those above.

But Newcastle can be winners from this situation in one sense because they still have a modest salary structures compared to their rivals. United's wage bill is said to be half the size of Man City and others. It means Newcastle could easily offer an incoming star a huge weekly wage packet and stay within the rules, something that becomes a powerful tool if we are talking about a Bosman type free transfer with no fee.

The only snag is that the new rules will run alongside UEFA's PSR rules, so if Newcastle are in Europe they may only get to spend 70% of their revenue due to the new regulations. Nevertheless, the spending rules seem to be moving in the right direction and the fear of not spending because of points deductions is dying down.