Newcastle and the completely absurd transfer of Odysseas Vlachodimos

“The surprising case of Odysseas Vlachodimos, the £20m goalkeeper Newcastle didn’t want”. This is the seductive title of an article proposed by the English website The Athletic This Friday. We will relay the content for you, quite surprising. This is a case that really went unnoticed during this summer transfer window, while all the lights are clearly red in this story. Here is a player recruited for €4.90 million by Nottingham Forest from Benfica just a year ago, who started only 5 times in the Premier League and who found himself transferred for €24 million on June 30th to Newcastle, a top club.

Be careful, Vlachodimos is not just anyone, and certainly not a bad goalkeeper. A regular for 5 years at Benfica Lisbon, he earned a few call-ups for the German youth teams before opting for the Greek national team (44 call-ups), where he became the first-choice goalkeeper. He played in the first two games of the Nations League (two wins and no goals conceded), in the England group. But here’s the thing, at Newcastle, he is only the 4th goalkeeper in the pecking order, behind the regular Nick Pope, his backup Martin Dubravka and the third-choice goalkeeper, who had also just been recruited from Birmingham City, John Ruddy. All goalkeepers are over 30 years old.

Newcastle under pressure from PSR

So why did Newcastle spend over €20m on a goalkeeper they absolutely didn’t need? The Athletic tells the story behind this curious move, which is mainly explained by the Premier League’s “Profit and Sustainability Rules” (PSR), English financial fair play. This regulation stipulates that Premier League clubs cannot suffer more than £105 million in losses in a three-year period. Everton and Nottingham Forest paid the price, having points deducted for not respecting this rule. And at the start of the summer transfer window, Newcastle were clearly under pressure, as their transfer window after being bought by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) created a serious deficit in 2021.

As a result, almost everyone was up for sale. In the end, it was Yankuba Minteh, once announced at Lyon, sold to Brighton for €35 million, and Elliot Anderson, sold to Nottingham Forest for €41.20 million, who were sacrificed. And it is because of the latter that Vlachodimos will make the opposite journey. Because Nottingham Forest is also still in the sights of this demanding Financial Fair Play and needs to sell players. Newcastle and Nottingham are starting discussions around many players from their respective teams. It is June 29 and the two clubs have two days to complete their accounting period and be in line with the PSR.

Vlachodimos imposed by Nottingham Forest

Nottingham Forest are keen on Elliot Anderson, a young English attacking midfielder who has broken into the Magpies’ rotation and who Eddie Howe sees as a bright future. Anderson has been a Newcastle fan since he was a child and is living his dream playing at St James’ Park. But there is no choice, they have to bring in new money. However, Nottingham Forest have a condition, paying in exchange for the transfer of Odysseas Vlachodimos, who arrived a year earlier and has not convinced. It is also former Strasbourg player Matz Sels who was recruited in January 2024 to take over the starting position. “It’s like having a gun pointed at our heads”a Newcastle source said The Athletic.

The Magpies have absolutely no need for a goalkeeper, as we explained above, but they are willing to pay £20 million, or €23.6 million to be precise. “Depending on how the PSR is calculated, the total sum received for Anderson would be booked as profit in the 2023-24 accounts, while Vlachodimos’s price would be amortised – or spread – over the life of his contract. Newcastle felt they had no choice but to accept.”written The Athletic. Nobody wanted Anderson to leave and Vlachodimos to arrive, but that’s exactly what happened.

The unfortunate Vlachodimos, who had already lost his place at Nottingham, therefore landed at a club with no prospect of playing time, but signed a long contract, estimated to run until 2029. He has not appeared on any match sheet since the start of the season. Anderson, for his part, started 3 matches as a starter for Nottingham Forest and became an England international hope during the international break in September. This is still the perverse effect of this PSR supposed to regulate the crazy spending of English clubs. On the contrary, it is capable of generating business without any sporting sense.