Jonjo Shelvey discusses Newcastle takeover: 'The sky is the limit'

Newcastle midfielder Jonjo Shelvey has said the ‘sky is the limit’ for the Magpies now that the club’s new Saudi Arabian owners are expected to invest heavily in the quest for success.

The Saudi-backed takeover has been met with feelings of uneasiness in the wider football community, even prompting a complaint from other Premier League clubs. But Newcastle fans left dejected by Mike Ashley’s time as owner have welcomed it.

Shelvey is also delighted, describing the scenes of fans celebrating as ‘incredible’ and admitting he would have loved to ‘get out there with a beer’ himself.

Although there has been early hype about Newcastle assembling some kind of dream team at St James’ Park, the 29-year-old has urged a little more patience and has suggested that some of the more important early changes will be behind the scenes in terms of upgraded infrastructure.

“I understand what the fans want - they want [Kylian] Mbappe and [Lionel] Messi. All I can say is, that won’t come overnight, we have to be realistic,” Shelvey told the Daily Mail.

“In terms of the setup, we all know the training ground facilities are below par when it comes to Premier League standard. As players we’ve got on with it and we’ve had to deal with that to the best of our ability. The money just hasn’t been there. That was hard to accept.

“But the money will be there now. I understand you can’t go spending so much straight away, and it will be a long process, but it’s one that this club and the fans deserve. This club can achieve anything it wants now, the sky is the limit.”

90min understands that Newcastle’s new owners are preparing their transfer strategy for the next two windows ahead of next season but have been surprised by the number of agents that have already been in touch offering them players – above even what they expected.

There are two transfer wishlists, one for January to improve in the short-term that will help keep the club in the Premier League, and a second for the summer when more high profile players might be willing to make the switch.

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