🚨 JUST IN: Newcastle Handed HUGE Transfer Boost as Premier League Rules Allow EIGHT New Signings!

Newcastle United’s transfer search has taken them far and wide this summer – and it isn’t finished yet as sporting director Ross Wilson continues to clock up the air miles.

The Magpies have undergone a squad revamp since the end of last season, with a number of big-name stars leaving the club and five players having been brought in so far.

Wilson and the recruitment team are continuing to push for additions to new manager Matthias Jaissle’s ranks, although a potential deal for Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg has stalled after the Dane decided a move to Tyneside wasn’t right for him.

Hojbjerg was on a longer list of midfield options for Newcastle, who still have a great deal of wiggle room when it comes to building Jaissle’s team. The manager admitted he’d looked at the squad mapping with Wilson, and a number of key areas still need to be addressed.

With Newcastle looking to make further signings this summer, the Premier League’s registration rules provide an interesting picture of exactly who can and cannot be registered at the end of the transfer window.

The league’s registration rules state that a club must name a squad with a maximum of 25 senior players containing at most 17 non-homegrown players, with the rest required to be homegrown.

A homegrown player is someone who, according to the Premier League rules, has been registered with any club affiliated to the Football Association or Football Association of Wales for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons or 36 months before their 21st birthday, or the end of the season during which they turn 21.

Therefore, Danish frontman William Osula and Swedish winger Anthony Elanga both qualify as homegrown players. Osula was in the youth academy at Sheffield United from 2018, joining when he was aged 15, while Elanga moved to England as a 12-year-old and was registered with Manchester United from 2015.

Clubs are also helped by the fact that players born on or after January 1, 2005, regardless of where they come from, do not have to be registered in the main 25-man squad and instead go on an under-21 list.

Given the new transfer strategy adopted by the Magpies this summer, they now have several stars who don’t need to be included in the 25-man squad.

Bazoumana Toure, Ewen Jaouen, Sean Steur and Aladji Bamba can all be included alongside the likes of Lewis Miley, Sean Neave, Leo Shahar and Aidan Harris on the under-21 list.

Newcastle currently have seven non-homegrown players over the age of 21, while Premier League clubs are allowed to have up to 17.

Those players are Lukas Hornicek, Malick Thiaw, Sven Botman, Joelinton, Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa.

They also have 10 homegrown players over the age of 21 in Nick Pope, Dan Burn, Tino Livramento, Lewis Hall, Jacob Ramsey, Joe Willock, Osula, Elanga, Jacob Murphy and Harvey Barnes.

That means Newcastle currently have 17 senior players in total, while they can register up to 25.

The number could be reduced further if the exits of Nick Pope and Joe Willock, both of whom have been tipped to leave the club this summer, go through.

It shows just how thin the squad remains in certain areas, despite the changes already made during the summer.

However, the registration rules mean Newcastle could still bring in up to eight new players aged over 21 should they wish to do so.

At least one full-back and two midfielders are believed to be among the areas Newcastle could strengthen, while a right-winger and another forward may also be considered.

The Magpies also have significant flexibility when it comes to signing overseas players. With only seven non-homegrown players currently in the squad, Newcastle could add as many as 10 more international players if they wanted, although doing so would require some homegrown players to leave because of the overall 25-man limit.

Either way, the situation gives Wilson considerable flexibility compared with some other Premier League clubs when it comes to recruitment before the transfer window closes on September 1.

Newcastle still have work to do, but the Premier League registration rules mean they have plenty of room to manoeuvre as Jaissle continues to shape his squad.