Premier League chief executive Richard Masters may well have handed Newcastle United and a host of other top flight clubs plenty of ideas for this summer's transfer window after he was pressed on Chelsea's lavish spending of late.
Masters spoke at the Financial Times Business of Football Summit this week, addressing a range of matters from top flight transfer business to the implications Brexit has had on the beautiful game. Newcastle United co-owner Amanda Staveley also spoke at the event as she waxed lyrical over the Magpies and discussed grand plans for the future on Tyneside.
Chelsea have splashed out £600m in an ambitious recruitment drive since Todd Boehly took the reins from Roman Abramovich in 2022. Masters insists such a hefty outlay is perfectly fine for any Premier League club - including Chelsea - as long as they balance the books this summer.
READ MORE: Eddie Howe makes investment feelings clear after Newcastle given Premier League reminder
Newcastle kept a keen eye over the likes of Christian Pulisic, Hakim Ziyech, Conor Gallagher, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Armando Broja both last summer and back in January, and Masters' recent admission may tempt them into revisiting such interest at the end of the season.
“I’m not here to defend (Chelsea),” he told the summit on Thursday. “The new owners of the club of less than a year have had two transfer windows. You need to judge the football club after three or four years.
“They would argue probably, I would suggest, that they have a different transfer policy to the previous regime. The players have longer contracts, lower wages. And obviously within our rules it’s a test over a 12-month period.
“The question is whether they’re going to sell some of their players in the next window? I don’t know the answer to that question. I’m also not going to defend them, but you have to judge these things over a period of time.”
Eddie Howe has previously bemoaned the fact clubs like Chelsea were unwilling to do business with Newcastle as they attempt to disrupt the top six. That will only get more difficult as the St James' Park outfit continue to grow. But with Chelsea potentially needing to get wages off the books in the short-term, an opportunity may have arisen for Newcastle.
“Domestic clubs didn’t want to be seen to be helping us," Howe said back in September. "We’ll have to take that, that is part of where we are at the moment. I think we have certainly found there is no one there, ready to do us a favour.
“It’s the narrative regarding us that has changed. I think if there is anything domestically teams will put their price up if it is Newcastle."
Read what Amanda Staveley had to say at the summit here:
Newcastle United Champions League ambition underlined for the second time in a week by co-owner
The 15-year plan in place at Newcastle United as Staveley talks PIF's 'long-term' credentials
'If it's the right fit' - Amanda Staveley admits Newcastle United could copy Manchester City model
