Jack Grealish to Newcastle United – This is just cynical | OneFootball

Jack Grealish to Newcastle United is one of the ongoing transfer stories in the media.

It has been clear for some time that he has no future at the Etihad.

The final confirmation of that, if any was needed, came when Jack Grealish didn’t even make the 27 man squad for the FIFA Club World Cup.

The fact that so many journalists are still prepared to push the Jack Grealish signing for Newcastle United claims, it is just totally cynical.

Jack Grealish will end up at another club BUT it won’t be Newcastle United.

There are clubs that will take on somebody with Grealish’s profile but quite obviously, Eddie Howe’s NUFC aren’t amongst them.

Manchester City paid £100m for Jack Grealish in summer 2021 on a six year contract and he is reported to be on £300,000 per week (£15m a year) wages. Just after the 2025/26 Premier League season kicks off he will turn 30.

As I say, journalists who still push Newcastle United buying Jack Grealish are simply cynical, claiming something that they know for sure won’t happen. The only other explanation is that they are ignorant, totally ignorant of how Eddie Howe and Newcastle United operate.

Leaving aside what ability/quality he has as a player, just focus on the financials for a moment.

It has been reported he could be bought for around £40m, Man City making a £60m loss on the £100m they paid four years ago.

If say Newcastle United paid £40m and Jack Grealish was willing to drop to ‘only’ £200,000 per week (£10m a year) wages on a four year contract, United would be committing to £80m (£40m transfer fee and 4 x £10m wages).

The player would want that kind of length of contract as his last big pay deal, after all, he is already guaranteed two more years of £15m a season at Man City and if he stuck that out could leave on a free and no doubt get big wages still based on the fact of no transfer fee.

Coming back to Newcastle United though and it is ludicrous to think that financially this is a deal Newcastle United would even think about for a second.

If you took on Jack Grealish on those terms (£40m fee and £40m wages over four seasons), it is £80m you are never going to see again. Or at best £60m, if you can unload him for nothing after a couple of years to a clueless club as he is about to turn 32, find somebody else to pay his wages those next couple of years.

Apart from the very first January 2022 crisis transfer window when Eddie Howe and the then new NUFC owners had to bring in experienced ready to roll instantly, older signings, Newcastle United these next three and a half years and six transfer windows, haven’t paid a transfer fee for a single outfield player over the age of 25.

The club policy is quite clear and obvious. Indeed, all of the transfer fees paid for outfield players since January 2022, have all been for players aged 23 and under, with the exception of (a then 25 year old) Harvey Barnes, who Newcastle paid £38m for in summer 2023.

Eddie Howe and Newcastle United have had outstanding success, the judgement outstanding in identifying players at a young age, who will both progress in quality on the pitch AND in terms of valuation.

The likes of Bruno, Gordon, Livramento, Tonali, Hall, Botman, Isak…

Newcastle United fans talk about what a disaster it would be if we lost one or more of our best players.

However, it is all relative.

If one of our top players did leave then it would only be for a transfer fee far above what Newcastle United paid, that money then could be invested in new signings.

A real nightmare is committing £80m to a Jack Grealish who you will never get a penny back on due to his age and diminishing performance year on year. Even worse, you commit £80m to a Jack Grealish who can’t even get in your first team on a regular basis AND who you can’t even sell, only give him away at best a couple of years into his contract.

In that scenario you have wasted £80m and then you have to start again in terms of needing to find the money from elsewhere to replace Jack Grealish.

Certain other Premier League clubs will be interested in somebody who has the profile of a Jack Grealish, either because they can’t attract/identify the young talent that Eddie Howe and Newcastle United regularly do, or else they and their managers just want to bring in experienced name players who they hope can instantly perform, whilst knowing at the same time this older player is going to cost them a fortune and will quickly need replacing.

Also the ‘small’ matter that the wages of Jack Grealish, even if taking a sizeable cut in them, would be way beyond what any current Newcastle United player gets. How would Isak, Bruno, Tonali, Gordon all feel, if Newcastle signed a squad player to go on the bench, who was earning a massive amount more than any of them?

More to the point, why would Newcastle United be wanting to do this, especially in these pressurised PSR times???

These journalists who seriously claim Newcastle interest in Jack Grealish are totally shameless.

Jack Grealish wouldn’t even get in the NUFC first eleven and yet would become easily the top wage earner.

The fact is as well, even though in his prime these past four years, when he should have been at the very highest levels of his playing career, Jack Grealish has only started 62 Premier League games in four seasons. He has started just seven PL matches this past 2024/25 season and indeed, only 17 PL games since 2023. In four Premier League seasons, he has scored 12 PL goals, averaging three a season.

It isn’t just Jack Grealish. When journalists (and some Newcastle fans…) seriously claim that United will commit to a very expensive deal, transfer fee and wages, for a name player who is in his late twenties or older, I don’t know where they have been for these last few years.

For example, I have seen people saying Jarrod Bowen would be a great signing for Newcastle United. I agree that he is a very good player who would go straight into this Newcastle team but it will never happen.

Bowen turns 29 in December and West Ham would be desperate to hold on to one of their star players. You are looking at a £60m transfer fee (if you could persuade West Ham to sell), probably higher, plus he will be on big wages and surely you’d have to pay him that £200,000 a week (£10m a year) minimum on a four or five year contract.

IMAGO/News Images

Including the £60m+ transfer fee, you are committing to a deal worth £100m-£120m including wages, for a player who a couple of years into his contract would have little or no transfer sale value, especially considering the wages another club would have to match, or improve on!

I can’t wait to see who Eddie Howe and Newcastle United will sign this summer but I know for sure that Jarrod Bowen and Jack Grealish won’t be even talked about within NUFC.