The pieces are beginning to fall into place for Newcastle to land one of their long-term summer transfer targets before the September 1 deadline.
Earlier in the window, highly-rated Swedish international Bergvall emerged as one of Newcastle’s midfield targets after having slipped down the pecking order in North London.
Despite holding an interest throughout the summer, the Magpies’ approach to formalising a transfer has left supporters asking what the delay could be.
Lucas Bergvall to Newcastle United delay revealed
A potential reason for Newcastle’s hesitation could be due to UEFA legislation termed ‘the 45-day rule’.
The rule was introduced by the Premier League’s financial regulators to close an accounting loophole created by reciprocal transfer arrangements designed to artificially inflate a club’s short-term profits in order to comply with Profitability and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
Newcastle fans will recall one major example of this reciprocal arrangement two summers ago, when ahead of the June 30 accounting deadline in 2024, Newcastle and Nottingham Forest avoided breaching PSR limits by agreeing two technically separate transactions.
Newcastle sold academy graduate Elliot Anderson to Nottingham Forest for £35m, meanwhile Forest sold goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos to Newcastle for £20m.
Both clubs netted an immediate PSR benefit helping them abide by the admittedly flawed PSR parameters.
Fast forward to this summer, and had Newcastle signed Bergvall in the 45-day period following Tonali’s move, they would have been required to record only the net difference of the two transfers, effectively wiping out the accounting benefit of Tonali’s big-money departure. The 45-day period in question ends on August 20.
From the 2026/27 season onwards, the existing Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) will be fully replaced by the new Squad Cost Ratio (SCR) framework.
This incoming legislation limits a club’s total on-pitch spending, covering transfer amortisation, player wages, and agent fees, to 85 per cent of their overall football-related revenue.
A club’s pure profit from player sales directly dictates their spending threshold, too. By ensuring Tonali’s exit and Bergvall’s arrival remain completely separate transactions, Newcastle’s hierarchy can book the full profit upfront. This will provide essential headroom to adhere to the incoming Squad Cost Limits and will help the club’s spending power for critical transitional years ahead.