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Newcastle coach Eddie Howe spoke about the upcoming summer window about the plans of the club and said that the Magpies "can't afford" players such as Cristiano Ronaldo or Neymar for now. Despite the fact the club is currently controlled by Saudi owners (PIF) that decided to acquire the historical English club in 2021, Howe thinks that it's not time yet to see big names going to Newcastle. 

Over the past couple of days, there were rumors about Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar going to Newcastle, but Eddie Howe was clear when he spoke to the media on Friday ahead of Sunday's match against Arsenal. "It is best to discover players before they explode onto the world scene. We could not be able to come close to affording those players as they are the best players in the world.

"We are never going to be in a position currently to afford those transfer fees and wages, so we need to go underneath and find them young and develop them into the players they can be". 

Howe insisted that it's not the right time for the club to invest money on players like Neymar or Ronaldo. "That kind of speculation has been there from day one since the takeover, really. Naturally, everyone has then assumed the biggest names in world football will be going to Newcastle.

"Now, we've not recruited that way. Financially, we can't recruit that way at the moment, but also we have to bring the right people and the right players into the group. I will say the transfer market is such a complex decision, you can't just pick a name and bring them in. There's got to be a lot of thought going into what we're doing both financially and looking at the players."

Newcastle is 80% owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) and have spent over $315 million on players in the past three transfer windows, since they took the control the club. Newcastle are currently third in the Premier League table but will host Arsenal this weekend on Sunday. However, it's almost certain that they will play Champions League soccer next season, opening a new era for the English club.