A football finance guru has outlined a potential 'problem' that Newcastle United may have that could well harm their chances of a takeover at St. James' Park.

Speaking to Football Insider, Kieran Maguire has claimed that potential new investors would be inheriting a 'problem cost' in Joelinton should they take over in the North East, which may see the Tyneside club's chances of a takeover potentially harmed as a result:

“Newcastle’s squad is worth more money because they’ve invested more. That has good aspects and bad aspects to it.

“The elephant in the room is the Joelinton factor. Who’s going to sign him given that he’s not delivered for two seasons?

“You’re inheriting a problem cost which you won’t have to the same extent at Derby. There is more flexibility with them.”

Joelinton may be a problem

It is easy to see where Maguire is coming from in terms of the Magpies having a player like Joelinton still at the club.

The Toon reportedly signed the 24-year-old from Bundesliga side Hoffenheim for a club-record £40m transfer fee, which is big money for a club like NUFC to gamble on.

Joelinton's time at Newcastle has been nothing shy of miserable ever since, with a mere seven goals scored in 71 games in total over all competitions across the last two consecutive terms (Transfermarkt).

The potential new owners would almost certainly not be able to offload the Brazilian striker for anything near to whet they would hope, and so they would likely be left with him stuck on their wage bill.

Nonetheless, any prospective buyers may well be put off by the current valuation of the Magpies squad as Maguire suggests, with some players such as Joelinton potentially becoming a 'problem' for them.

In other news, find out which five managers Lee Ryder has named who could replace Steve Bruce here!