In the event that the contentious FFP proposal is accepted, How Newcastle United F.C transfer clause can help stop major transfer setback

Newcastle United is getting a lot of interest in Yankuba Minteh, but the Magpies need to be ready in case their asking price is met and the 19-year-old goes on to reach his full potential somewhere else.

The people who own Chelsea have sold apartments on the site of Stamford Bridge to another business they own. Aston Villa and Everton have finished transfers of academy players that are good for both teams. Newcastle United could get a lot of money for a guy who has never played for them. Welcome to the crazy world of making money and being environmentally friendly.

Letting Yankuba Minteh go would be the best thing that could happen to Newcastle in this window more than any other. Everyone would rather not make this choice because the 19-year-old has so much promise, but it is now a real possibility if the club’s asking price is met before the end of the financial year.

Is now really the right time to make money? It might need to be. Newcastle wants to keep key players like Bruno Guimaraes and Alexander Isak, but since the takeover, they’ve only made good money by selling Allan Saint-Maximin and Chris Wood, even though they’ve spent more than £400m on new players.

The club’s income has grown year over year, but selling is something Newcastle needs to look into right away to free up money. Minteh is one of the few players on the club’s roster who is getting real interest from clubs on the continent. This is happening at a time when Newcastle wants to bring in another forward later this summer.

If you remember that Minteh was only signed for £5.8m last summer, Newcastle needs to seriously consider deals worth a lot more than that. This may not have been in the plans a year ago. You might forget how hard Newcastle worked to get Minteh in the first place—they watched the forward for months, looked into his background, and made a career plan for him—which is what made the Odense forward choose Newcastle over other offers from across Europe.

Newcastle, for example, had already talked to Feyenoord about the possibility of a season-long loan, and Minteh was officially introduced as a Magpies player at the huge Dutch club’s training ground. Feyenoord was a smart and planned move. This was a huge club in the Champions League, and Arne Slot was their boss. They played fast, intense football. De Kuip can hold about as many people as St. James’ Park.

Newcastle kept a close eye on Minteh the whole time. In fact, the 19-year-old “felt” like he was still a Newcastle player in his first few weeks and months in Rotterdam. Loans manager Shola Ameobi and assistant Peter Ramage talked to each other often and went to the Netherlands on several hunting trips. It was explained to Minteh how Eddie Howe wanted to play and “how things are done” in Newcastle. When Minteh hurt his hamstring, the young player was taken to Newcastle’s training ground to be checked out. He also got to see the Champions League game against Borussia Dortmund and meet players and staff.

Minteh went on to do great things and helped set up 16 goals for Feyenoord. Before the season started, the plan was for Minteh to go back to Tyneside for pre-season so that the coaching staff could get a better look at him.

We couldn’t be sure of that, of course. After all, this player still needs to be more consistent and make his final output even better. There are still some obvious rough spots. Minteh, for example, annoyed Slot even after they beat Zwolle by going it alone too many times instead of giving it to a teammate. The Gambia international also got two yellow cards in the Dutch Cup final last month.

Minteh would also need time to get used to it. He only lived by himself for the first time while on loan at Feyenoord. Moving up to the Premier League is a whole new task for him. Howe has said that the Premier League is “very different from any other league in Europe.” Forwards like Antony have found this to be true after doing well in the Netherlands.

But it’s important to note that Minteh’s ability to change is probably his best quality. To give you some background, Minteh was still playing in Gambia a little more than two years ago. Since then, the young player has done very well at Odense and Feyenoord. Due to Minteh’s abilities and high ceiling, you wouldn’t bet against him making fast progress in the right hands.

Newcastle has to weigh this risk at a time when the club is still a long way from becoming like Manchester City, which is a maker of young players. Douglas Luiz, James Trafford, Angus Gunn, Gavin Bazunu, Carlos Forbs, Enes Unal, Jack Harrison, Rabbi Matondo, Felix Correia, Ivan Ilic, Aaron Mooy, and Pedro Porro can all be sold for around £135 million. These players never even played for the club. Others, like Romeo Lavia, Shea Charles, and Samuel Edozie, also made a lot of money even though they never played for Pep Guardiola’s team in the Premier League.

Some of the deals listed above have lucrative “sell-on” options that have helped Manchester City make more money even after the deals were over. That approach has worked out pretty well so far, but it could backfire.

Chelsea got £21 million for Marc Guehi, but the center-back has become an England international and could be worth three times that amount at Crystal Palace. On the other hand, Tino Livramento wanted to leave his childhood club because he didn’t think there was enough of a path for him to become a professional, so Chelsea only got about £21.5 million for a player who could be worth many times that amount in the years to come.

It is one of the toughest terms to work out, which is why Newcastle needs to make sure Minteh has a buyback if their asking price is met.