McClaren: 'This summer's transfer business is only a start'

When McClaren agreed to take over at St James’ Park at the start of the summer, he held a series of discussions with Mike Ashley and Lee Charnley in which Newcastle’s owner and managing director outlined their plans for the next three transfer windows.

The first of those windows has seen five players arrive for a combined total of almost £50m, a level of spending that would have been all but unthinkable before Ashley delivered his public pledge to step up the level of investment at the end of last season.

McClaren is pleased, and no doubt relieved, that Ashley has lived up to his promises, but is keen to point out that this summer’s events are merely the start of a longer-term process rather than an end in themselves.

He anticipates further investment during both the January transfer window and next year’s close-season break, but regards this summer’s spending as a successful start to his Tyneside reign.

“I remember the conversations we had in the first week I was here, and looking at the squad and the next three windows and thinking, ‘Can we not have all of that now?’” said McClaren.

“It’s been impossible to do that, but I’m excited about this because it’s not just about now, it’s about the next two windows as well.

“By this time next season, the squad should look totally different. Did I want to spend £150m in this window? Absolutely. But we have spent wisely, on quality, if not quantity.

“It’s a good start, although only time will tell how successful we will be. But credit to the club – they said they were going to do something, and they’ve done it.”

Having ruled out any interest in Wolves’ Benik Afobe, McClaren does not anticipate any more arrivals before the transfer window swings shut.

Crucially, however, he does not expect to be losing any of his leading lights either. Moussa Sissoko and Cheick Tiote continue to attract interest from both inside the Premier League and abroad, while Papiss Cisse came close to leaving Tyneside in January when he was the subject of interest from Turkey and the Middle East.

There are players who would be allowed to leave if an acceptable offer was received before Tuesday’s deadline – Mike Williamson and Yoan Gouffran have been deemed surplus to requirements despite their involvement in Tuesday’s League Cup win – but McClaren is confident there will not be any nasty surprises next week despite Ashley’s previous track record for making last-minute sales.

“I hope we don’t lose anyone, and we have no intention of doing that,” he said. “There’s a great determination from the club, to reiterate from two weeks ago, that we don’t need to sell.

“We don’t have to sell, we don’t want to sell, and we don’t want to lose any of our best players. We’ve wanted to bring players in, and we’ve just done that with (Florian) Thauvin. At this present moment, we are happy.”

For once, Newcastle will head into the final days of the transfer window without the kind of uncertainty that has washed around the club on previous deadline days.

Nevertheless, McClaren agrees with those who would like to see the window close before the start of the season, and sympathises with the likes of Tony Pulis and Roberto Martinez, who are having to deal with their star players submitting transfer requests while they are trying to prepare for crucial Premier League matches.

“I would like to see the transfer window close before the season begins,” he said. “I think that would be fair. What you’ve got at the minute, and Tony Pulis is going through it right now, is so much speculation.

“To be honest, you can make speculation out of anything and upset anybody at any time. The window should close, and then the season should start. Then you wouldn’t have those four games where you’ve got players who don’t know what they’re doing or where they’re going and it affects the team.

“Granted, at the moment you’ve got four games to see what you need, but I think there should be the end of the window, then your season starts after that.”