Newcastle star is now worth millions less after leaving

Newcastle United have made some significant improvements, wall to wall, over the past several years, with Eddie Howe transforming St. James’ Park into a team of capability at the upper end of the Premier League ladder.

Scratch that. Newcastle proved themselves in the Champions League last season, robbed against Paris Saint-Germain, foiled by injuries, but nonetheless, the Magpies played with skill and purpose, looked the part.

Much has been made of United’s brilliant transfer activity, bringing in the likes of Anthony Gordon, Alexander Isak, Bruno Guimaraes and Sven Botman (among others), but he’s been equally pinpoint in his sales, freeing Tyneside of its flotsam and jetsam.

Eddie Howe’s Newcastle sales

Admittedly, few of a Newcastle persuasion will have wanted to see top talents like Yankuba Minteh and Elliot Anderson sold this summer, but PSR problems forced Howe’s hand, and it meant that the above-mentioned superstars were kept on the books.

Previously, though, there have been some bold calls that have bore dividends for the Premier League club, with Allan Saint-Maximin’s £23m transfer to the Saudi Pro League’s Al Ahli in 2023 allowing Gordon to grow into his skin on the left flank and win United’s Player of the Season award.

Chris Wood, 32, might be thriving with Nottingham Forest, scoring 19 top-flight goals since the start of last season, but his time at Newcastle didn’t go to plan, and Howe’s transfer team deserve praise for recouping £15m from the initial £25m outlay, despite his struggles.

There are several more that deserve praise for the manner of ruthlessness shown by Howe, who recognised the squad’s potential from the offing and acted incisively.

One such sale was that of Jonjo Shelvey, who left St. James’ Park at just the right time.

Newcastle hit gold selling Jonjo Shelvey

Newcastle sold Shelvey to Nottingham Forest for around £6m in January 2023, the same time that Wood moved to the City Ground.

Shelvey arrived at a tumultuous time in Newcastle’s history, January 2016, to be precise. Arriving from Swansea City with a £12m transfer fee attached, the 32-year-old instantly cemented an important role but failed to prevent a plummet into the Championship.

He’d ply his trade on Tyneside for some time, actually playing the lion’s share of his wandering senior career in black and white, across a seven-year period.

Even so, injuries left his influence stretching weakly across the expanse of his Tyneside career, only hitting 30 Premier League starts in a campaign once across his stay.

Shelvey might have been a fan favourite, with his mean ball-striking ability and passion obvious from the get-go, but he was sold at the perfect time, with his £70k-per-week contract having cost Newcastle £35m in total, when combining it with that £12m transfer fee.

As you can see from the table above, the Englishman only managed eight appearances for the Tricky Trees and has since tapered off toward the end of his career in Turkey, with his diminishing impact leading to a price depreciation that, as per Football Transfers, has him marked with a lowly £1m value.

Given that Newcastle’s midfield has been so imperious in recent years, it would appear that he was sold at the perfect time, with Shelvey’s departure allowing the likes of Guimaraes, Joelinton and Sean Longstaff to cement an awesome engine room.