I am not a jigsaw person, I don’t have the patience.
Speaking of patience, or rather the lack of it, the summer 2026 Newcastle United transfer window officially opened six days ago (Monday 15 June 2026).
An early signing of France Under 21 goalkeeper Ewen Jaouen from Stade de Reims in a £24m deal, the even earlier sale of Anthony Gordon in a £70m deal.
The Newcastle United players aren’t even due back to start pre-season until mid-July and yet plenty of NUFC fans are wanting to make snap judgements.
These fans thinking they can already see the full picture and yet the final Newcastle United transfer window jigsaw is still missing so many pieces.
I think everything we see suggests that there will at least a few more players leaving St James’ Park, with even more than that still to come in.
The way I see it is that Ross Wilson and Eddie Howe have already got two important pieces of business done. The arrival of Jaouen and the departure of Gordon. I don’t see the departure of one of Newcastle’s very best players as something to be celebrated but clearly Anthony Gordon was keen to leave if an attractive proposition came along AND United were happy to sell him at the £70m transfer deal point.
None of us like a readiness to sell any quality player but there is clearly a plan in place.
Which brings me to Sandro Tonali.
Ross Wilson, Eddie Howe and others at Newcastle United have made a strategic decision to sell Anthony Gordon, plus potentially Sandro Tonali. The selling of Gordon making a huge difference to United’s spending power this summer, whilst a Tonali sale would be beyond huge in terms of the license to spend it would give.
This isn’t desperation selling, not a case of getting into a position whereby the club has been forced to sell star players on the cheap due to contract situations.
Anthony Gordon had plenty of years left on his Newcastle United contract and Sandro Tonali is with United until 2030 unless he is sold, so zero pressure on the contract front.
Sandro Tonali will only leave if a club pays the NUFC valuation, which is widely reported to be £100m+ and which in my opinion, sounds right on the money. Considering what is being talked about with an Elliot Anderson transfer fee, the Italy international is easily worth that £100m+ figure in today’s market. To get beyond £100m you are probably needing at least two clubs fighting over Tonali and that could well happen.
What I see the summer 2026 Newcastle United transfer window plan as being, is one whereby they have absolutely not wanted to repeat the Alexander Isak shambles of last summer. The Newcastle United owners wrecking pre-season preparations and Eddie Howe’s summer 2025 window by refusing to trade Isak all summer and then suddenly selling him on deadline day.
So with both Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon, a case of Newcastle United making clear to clubs that if they have genuine interest, they need to make official contact and have serious negotiations, on the understanding of what they are prepared to then offer is in the same ballpark as Newcastle’s valuations.
A case of Newcastle United willing to sell Gordon and Tonali but only if it happens early this summer AND valuations are met.
Then Newcastle having a clear understanding of where they can afford to shop this window.
Far too much has been made of Victor Munoz going to Liverpool. The winger is a Spanish international and at the World Cup, he had a well publicised £35m transfer release clause and many clubs were understandably interested, not just Newcastle. A bit like Chelsea paying the £30m transfer release for Liam Delap last summer, Liverpool know they are getting a player in Victor Munoz who would have had a higher transfer fee if there wasn’t the £35m release figure. So even if he (Munoz) doesn’t play much for them next season, they would at the very least get their money back on him,, as is the case with Chelsea and Delap. Plus of course it prevents a Premier League rival having them…
Newcastle United will have a number of targets they are simultaneously working on and I think we will see a couple more successfully signing in the near future, regardless of what happens with Sandro Tonali in the meantime.
Last summer we saw the Newcastle United owners effectively throw away the box containing the jigsaw pieces, so we couldn’t even see what the picture was supposed to look like. Then negligently they did the equivalent of losing some jigsaw pieces and not properly looking for others that would fill the spaces that needed filling.
I think by the time we get to mid-July the 2026 summer Newcastle United transfer window jigsaw will have a far clearer picture.