After a slow and sluggish start to our summer rebuild, Rafa Benitez has now assigned five new recruits to his Premier League project, and whilst more will undoubtedly arrive, I have one niggling concern with those we have brought in so far – their age/experience.
Mikel Merino, Jacob Murphy and Javier Manquillo – three promising young players with potential to improve, but at 21, 22 and 23, they lack experience and the Premier League know-how our squad severely lacks.
Then there’s Florian Lejeune and Christian Atsu. At 26 and 25 respectively, the pair are at good ages, but it must be said that they too lack any real top flight experience, despite forgettable ‘stints’ at Manchester City and Chelsea.
For the record, I have been mightily impressed by Lejeune over pre-season, and am becoming increasingly confident that he will be a hit, but as we’ve learnt with the likes of Mapou Yanga Mbiwa and Jean Alain Boumsong, foreign imports do bring that element of risk.
Don’t get me wrong, I am all for signing players for the future and scouring the European market for bargain buys – there’s every chance the likes of Murphy, Lejeune and Merino turn out to be future stars at the club – but we need players for now, and it’s fair to say that not one of our five summer signings have any proven track record in the English top flight.
Premier League experience is undoubtedly lacking in our squad, with just five players with over 100 Premier League appearances (Diame, Krul, Colback, Clark and Shelvey), and it will be argued that only two of those are players you’d want starting against Spurs in the season opener.
To summarise, i’m quite content with some of our signings thus far, however I am hoping to see Benitez bring in some senior figures and players with some Premier League experience in the weeks to come – we can not afford to take a leap of faith next season in such a defining period for the club.
The addition of some experienced heads, Premier League know-how and proven quality would go down a treat – but given our limited resources and reliance on player sales, signing the above is easier said than done – especially in this day and age.
Young #NUFC
Woodman 20
Yedlin 24
Lascelles 23
Mbemba 22
Manquillo 23Murphy 22
Hayden 22
Mireno 21
Aarons 21Perez 24
Mitrovic 22 pic.twitter.com/Vd80CjP0kf— NUFC Gallowgate (@NUFCgallowgate) July 27, 2017
https://www.beyondthepitch.net/2017/08/05/why-wont-newcastle-spend-much-this-summer/
Interesting take on things…
Dubai Toon(Quote)
A few people think this is the case but I suspect it’s just jabba reverting to type. All the talk of Chinese investment/takeover was/is a ploy to boost season ticket sales imo. They know we wont increase sells based on our signings so the hint of extra cash coming in to fund them is a canny smoke screen.
kimtoon(Quote)
You trust jabba as much as I do,the mans a bloody sly fox
Icedog(Quote)
Rafa to have a “set too” with jabba over none transfers that were promised,could we see a bust up here??
Icedog(Quote)
What is this Talk-Sport show, I have never heard it? What I do know is every time there is a link on Newsnow or The Chronic it is some ex-player/coach slagging off NUFC. The latest is Dean Saunders who has a tenuous link to us because he coached under that great manager Souness more than a decade ago. Him, Paul Merson’s Giant Balloon Head, Savage, Redknapp all of them seem to revel in predicting doom for us. It is like a cottage industry – interview someone who has had moderate success in their playing career and have them predict relegation for NUFC.
Maybe we will get relegated, but I doubt that I would be betting against Rafa Benitez. Other teams have worse squads than us. Huddersfield, Brighton, Swansea, Burnley, maybe even West Brom and who knows about Southampton.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Can anybody tell me that Bournemouth and Watford have better squads than us?
I am not saying we will win the league and we will probably be in a relegation scrap, but Rafa knows the state of play both in terms of money available and the cost of getting any half-decent players now.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
funrafa(Quote)
funrafa(Quote)
Here’s a head scratcher. Boro have spent 50 million quid and have not sold any significant players. How is that possible? The parachute payment is only about 40 million. It puts our spending so far into perspective and I think we really have to break our transfer record on a striker.
I know we spent a lot last year but we also brought in a ton of money for Sissoko, Wijnaldum and Townsend to cover it.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I give in now. It was only a week ago that Rafa had the talk-in and said everything was fine. Now Mirror are saying he is furious. They also said we had a 12 million bid for Joselu turned down which sounds very suspicious.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
£12M for Joselu !!!!, god no, just no.
kimtoon(Quote)
Oh and of all the guys to beat Bolt last night , it had to be Gatlin ffs 👿
kimtoon(Quote)
This Joselu story is surrounded by nonsense. Is it £12m or £1.2m? The only reason for the story is he’s Spanish . . . who reads the Mirror anyway?
I’m starting to be resigned that we’ll start the season as we are and we’ll probably do OK. It might serve football very well for us to finish high without taking part in this stupid spending cycle.
georgio(Quote)
Georgio: Ed has written a couple of articles today with a link to the MIrror being all doom and gloom. Rafa will probably say some words after the game today and may clear this up AGAIN. I am still unclear as to why we would pay Stoke double what they paid for Joselu when he has been a failure there? It makes no sense and seems like they are making stuff up. Now that would be a surprise 🙂
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Amen to that
kimtoon(Quote)
This transfer may well have all the hallmarks of the January one under McClaren. Our striker search is looking rather pathetic to be honest. But having said that, it was always going to be the hardest as they cost more money.
Stuart79(Quote)
I actually read the Mirror story. 🙄 Absolute nonsense.
Villa need to sell. How about Kodjia? Looked good last season.
georgio(Quote)
Yeah he was excellent for Bristol City too mate, I would take him definitely . He is improving every season Last 3 seasons 15g in 28, 19g in 49 and 19 in 36 last season .
kimtoon(Quote)
The 15 in 28 was at Angers so I’m not gonna read much into that as not English League.
kimtoon(Quote)
John Gibson is doing some **** stirring today as well, about 12 hours after his colleague Ryder had said everything is OK. It seems to be getting worse with this 24 hour news cycle and desperation for clicks. All the papers just bash out a bunch of contradictory stories and pick transfer fees out of thin air. The only time they get it right is when there is a buyout clause.
You never see a retraction when it turns out to be rubbish, they just move on to the next fantastical story. Where are they getting this 160 mil for MBappe from. A couple of weeks ago it was 80. Neymar is an established world class player and the Qataris were desperate to get some good news because of the trouble they are having in their country and losing Barca sponsorship. Of course it could happen, but it would be absolutely mental if it did.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Eric – likewise mate.
Papers wrote we had a offer that was seen as derisory turned down – well if we had bid £12m, that’s hardly derisory saying as they only paid half that about a season ago.
Unless of course we said £12m in £5 monthly instalments like.
Sharpy17(Quote)
a story coming from a Stoke end is the real bid was 3 mil,now that seems more like the truth
icedog(Quote)
SHARPY 47c in Malta today 🙄 🙄 😎
icedog(Quote)
http://www.shieldsgazette.com/sport/football/newcastle-united/rafa-benitez-delivers-transfer-message-to-newcastle-fans-1-8688799
icedog(Quote)
Ice – that’s gonna kill me mate ?. It’s meant to get cooler by the weekend but not much – and I’ll have melted by then anyway ?
Sharpy17(Quote)
Ice – it seems more accurate to the players worth as well IMO.
Sharpy17(Quote)
It does make me laugh when these papers suggest that Rafa is going for a showdown with Ashley & paints him as this toy throwing, dummy spitting prima dona!!
Truth is he’s a very controlled man who will get his point across in a sensible, constructive manner.
Sharpy17(Quote)
agree mate
icedog(Quote)
They’re making it all up because they cannot live without drama. Nobody reads or clicks onto “everything’s fine” stories!
What they’re not making up is the team sheet for today with Gayle not even on the bench. Now that’s something Rafa might get desperate about and want to talk to Ashley.
georgio(Quote)
years ago a guy started a newspaper that would only report “good”news,it lasted a month,nobody would buy it
icedog(Quote)
Is there a stream link today?
georgio(Quote)
According to Chronicle, Rafa still needs at least 3 more players. Two of them are in negotiation: Joselu and Adrian. If he does not get them, it could be a deal breaker.
It seems Rafa is willing to continue at Toon, as long as he can get enough new players, no matter how cheap the player is.
funrafa(Quote)
Just knew this would happen,Gayle out of game,with bloody hamstring. AGAIN ,just cannot rely on him,we must buy a striker or we are stuffed
Icedog(Quote)
Are we shifting from cheap Frenchies to cheap Spaniards now?
shamrock(Quote)
Sham, it is Ashley. What else do you expect.
funrafa(Quote)
Rafa now trying out the no striker formation. Looks like we might need it…
Stuart79(Quote)
So… friendliest are done with a 2-0 win… not looking forward to next week as much as I had first thought since we now have 1 fit striker, 1 crocked striker and a donkey as options up front. ☹️☹️
Dubai Toon(Quote)
Was gonna post that very thing , beat me to it mate. Got to say both Adrian and Joselu don’t seem on first inspection to be any better than what we have.
kimtoon(Quote)
Well Kim,
I guess we will know just how strong our squad is in the next few weeks. Fingers crossed…
shamrock(Quote)
There’s a website called Football365 that has a section called Mediawatch which runs criticisms of the exaggerations and misquotes of the papers and pundits. It is amazing the downright lies, old information passed off as new and headlines that have nothing to do with what was actually said there are. People should have a read of it because it really does bring home the ****-stirring of the press. The worst culprit is probably Neil Ashton in The Sun, but The Mirror are featured regularly.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Mirror has gone down hill badly Eric, I used to get it every day but maybe once or twice a week now, if that. They have always been pretty good on football stories up until about 5 years back, don’t know what changed but they rarely get first dibs on breaking news nowadays.
kimtoon(Quote)
Diame seems to have fallen down the pecking order. We could potentially only have one player on the pitch who started the last PL game against Spurs if Gayle recovers and bumps Mitro. Some are still at the club but are not expected to start. That team was:
Darlow
Janmaat
TAYLOR
MBemba
Colback
Tiote
Gini
Sissoko
Townsend
Mitro
How the hell we won with that defense and defensive midfield I will never know. We also scored 3 after Mitro was sent off. Sissoko also played his best game for years that day which must have caught Spurs’ attention.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Wigan played Chorley in a friendly the other day. Chorley thought that Wigan would be playing their reserves and so played theirs. Wigan had other plans and played a full strength team and won 14 nil. I bring this up because did we really learn anything from our pre-season given who we played? Wolfsburg only stared 3 first teamers against us and from the reports it seems Verona were not the strongest opposition. Spurs beat Juventus in their final pre-season game, but I also saw them get taken apart by Man City so there is still hope.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Colback was left out of the squad today. Does he have a knock or maybe there is a move lined up?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Wishful thinking Eric ?
kimtoon(Quote)
Lee Ryder ✔ @lee_ryder
Asked Rafa after the game on Lucas Perez, can move be ruled out he said: “I know him well and like the player” #nufc
12:27 – 6 Aug 2017 · Newcastle Upon Tyne, England
That is definitely something suggesting Rafa is not giving up on Perez. Maybe he is fighting for him!
funrafa(Quote)
Was seeing if Icedog had any inside info. I am not as down on Colback because he has a lot of energy and is a scrapper. The flip-side as everybody knows are those niggly fouls he gives away on the edge of the box. He could do a job for a top half Championship team if he could get his head on straight about that or if a Manager could drum it into him not to do it.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Heard a whisper he could be on his way (yippie ) both Villa Hull have asked a question oh god I hope it’s true
Icedog(Quote)
We should swap Colback for Kodija plus cash with Villa 😉
kimtoon(Quote)
I would give them wearside jack for nowt
Icedog(Quote)
Rafa pushing for Perez
Icedog(Quote)
is jabba listening though Ice
kimtoon(Quote)
wouldn’t of minded seeing us try for Woods too
kimtoon(Quote)
Leeds are asking 20 mil plus mate,a bit much imo
Icedog(Quote)
Ice , it is mate but I understand why they would.
kimtoon(Quote)
KIM have you solved the problem of loading the site now??
Icedog(Quote)
“When I decided to stay I was expecting another thing. Now we are where we are.”
Doesn’t sound like a man who’s happy. But I suppose he could be making it all up… 😳
Stuart79(Quote)
Aye, who would of thought jabba would break promises 🙄
kimtoon(Quote)
It’s far from perfect ice, I am having to close link and sometimes pc altogether and reopen/start quite often still. I rarely get problems on other sites, though the Chronicle is getting very iffy I must say.
kimtoon(Quote)
pretty sure it’s the ad content as it’s the only thing that’s changed apart from blog owner. The chronicle is loaded with ads too.
kimtoon(Quote)
Get ad blocker on your PC Kim? Should be free.
shamrock(Quote)
i just cannot read the chronicle on my apple ipad it keeps re-loading so i give up with it,your is a strange one must be a pain for you
icedog(Quote)
Funrafa I’m used to it by now mate. I mean Ashley did spend nothing on the first team for 5 year’s. However I’d like Rafa to sue him in court and make Ashley out to be a liar. If Rafa resign’s Ashley win’s. I know the alternative will be Pardew but there both be happy to be reunited like a pig in ****.
Stem(Quote)
will do mate
kimtoon(Quote)
Rafa says the squad is too big and he obviously doesn’t rate certain players, but I am not seeing how this is any different to any other club.
I am sure we can shift Colback, Hanley and Darlow if we want to at the right price.
Who else don’t we want – Krul and Haidara only have a year to run on their deals, so loan them out.
The ones that will be hard to shift are Lazaar, Saivet and Riviere because they all have a while to go on their deals. All clubs have players like this picking up high wages for doing nothing. Hell, it is not that much different to if they had picked up long term injuries. It wasn’t that long ago that there were regularly 10-12 players on the treatment table. Besides, I think could probably loan Saivet.
FFS Sunderland have a whole team of mercenaries that they would probably like to shift and they are just getting on with it.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I’m sure you have these already, but cCleaner and auto defrag are a must as well. These are also free. And a good anti virus.
shamrock(Quote)
It really would be good to get Saivet, Riviere and Lazaar’s wages off the books but our whole financial model and season doesn’t depend on it. Jesus, you add them all together and I bet their wages come to a lot less than a constantly injured Jack Wilshere. I know Arsenal have a lot more money than us but Rafa has been around the block enough to know that all teams have players like this.
I can name another one closer to home – Sissoko. I am sure his wage at Spurs would cover all of these and he is little more than a bit part player. Plus they still owe us 24 million on him. Don’t believe that stupid story that their debt to us would be wiped clean if they sold him. That is total fiction started on a Spurs blog that some idiots took as fact.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I read an interview the Wenger gave and he was saying that they have too many players and they have to sell.. we are not the only ones overload.
Regarding the Rafa quote Stuart posted.. I notice he left the other parts of the quote off, where Rafa says he happy to stay because because of the fans.. I guess it didn’t suit the point he wanted to make so he left it off..
Aussie(Quote)
Full quote from Rafa..
“When I decided to stay I was expecting another thing… Now we are where we are.
“I decided to stay because of a lot of positive things I could see, starting with the fans.
“Now I will try to do my best to be sure that the team we have will be good enough to compete and stay as high as we can in the Premier League.
“We are trying to move players out to bring players in – we know what we need.
“We are looking at different options and if we can’t get one, we have to look at others.
“We know what we need and will try to do this until the end of the transfer window…
Aussie(Quote)
Aye. that’s the full quote I read anyway
Icedog(Quote)
Ice, there is no doubt Rafa is frustrated but I don’t think he is ready to jump ship.
Going by what he is saying I think he feels he owes it to the fans to give it his best..
I still think we will get the players we need.
Aussie(Quote)
Such upside down positivity 😳 Who would they be then?
georgio(Quote)
It is papers’ and pundits’ prediction time. I think the world must have spun off its axis because both Robbie Savage and Paul Merson’s Giant Balloon Head have predicted we will NOT get relegated.
I am going to keep an eye out to see if anyone predicts relegation because, after all, Rafa is favourite with Sky Bet to be the first Manager to leave. I am going with Mark Hughes, but Watford have had 7 managers in 3 years so they are trigger happy.
Eric Sykes(Quote)
You tell me Georgio?
I think we are waiting on some players to be moved on and we are waiting on clubs to get players in before they move on players we are interested in. We could be waiting to see if selling clubs will blink first and take less than what they would ideally want.
Not upside positivity or what ever the fuk you call it. Just hoping the deals can be done and not buying into the doom and.gloom..
Aussie(Quote)
Call me crazy but I still think we will break our transfer record.
Eric Sykes(Quote)