It’s been a unique few months at St James’ Park. Our first summer window under new owners and phase two of the rebuild as we push to create a squad capable of breaking into the top 10 and beyond.
If you told someone at the end of May that we’d only be bringing in one attacker and four new signings in total, they might’ve been slightly underwhelmed, although Eddie Howe has always insisted it’s “evolution not revolution.!
We’ve battled the ‘Newcastle tax’, financial fair play restrictions and a host of clubs who were clearly unwilling to sell to a Saudi-owned Newcastle, but we’ve come out of the summer in good shape.
Here’s some of the key moves we made, starting with some off-field appointments that could make all the difference:
Dan Ashworth and Darren Eales
Many will judge our summer on the quality of players signed for the first-team squad, but we have made two impressive moves off the pitch that leave us great hands moving forward.
Dan Ashworth’s arrival from Brighton felt like a huge coup, with the former England man boasting a superb reputation following impressive spells at The Amex and within the FA.
As our new sporting director, he’ll improve the efficiency of transfer talks, help build our Academy – which has gone stale over the years – and oversee so many off-field matters that were previously left to rot under the regime.
We are in safe hands with him and have a highly-rated CEO in Darren Eales, who worked wonders in the MLS with Atalanta United and seems intent on making decisions with supporters in mind; which feels like a recipe for success after fans were ignored for so many years under Mike Ashley.
Four quality signings and £112m spent
We have gone for quality over quantity this summer, recruiting two proven Premier League players who’ll rarely let us down in Nick Pope and Matt Targett and two of Europe’s most exciting young talents in Sven Botman and Alexander Isak.
Pope is already looking like one of the bargains of the summer at £10m and an upgrade on Martin Dubravka; which takes some doing when you consider what a good servant he’s been.
Targett finally gives us a reliable left-back who is dependable both on the ball and in his defensive work, while Sven Botman looks like a cool cat who is dominant in the air and impeccable on the ball.
Isak is a real statement of intent. A club record signing and striker who’s been tipped for the very top for a few years; which says a lot when he’s still only 22! The Hugo Ekitike saga was a frustrating one and waste of time in many ways, but we can laugh about that now we’ve ended up with Isak.
Away from first-team matters, we’ve also brought in a host of promising youngsters for our U23s, with Alex Murphy (Galway United) and Charlie McCarthur (Kilmarnock) both tipped for big things.
Eight moved on
It’s sometimes unfair to classify unused fringe men as ‘deadwood’, but moves away for the likes of Dwight Gayle and Ciaran Clark have needed to be moved on for a while now.
They aren’t up to it at Premier League level anymore, yet continued to cost the club decent wages each week, so it’s a good job done and the right move for all parties to see them join Stoke City and Sheffield United, respectively.
Moving out Jeff Hendrick – who is also on decent money – also made sense, even on loan, while Isaac Hayden and Federico Fernandez leave with our best wishes. Two top blokes who’ve given their all for Newcastle, but there’s no room for too much sentiment in football; especially when our squad had to be trimmed to make room for signings of our own.
As for loan moves, Matty Longstaff and Kell Watts sealing late moves to the EFL will be good for their development, as it’s never nice to see young players rot in our reserves. On the flip side, it’s great to see us keep Elliot Anderson; a fearless talent who has the quality, drive and aggression to play his part.
Getting rid of Martin Dubravka and Freddie Woodman will raise questions, as the former leaves us without high quality cover for Nick Pope, however it was never realistic to have a host of goalkeepers on our books.
Two mistakes made?
I appreciate the battles we faced with the ‘Newcastle tax’, financial fair play and the fact so many Premier League clubs refused to do us any favours, however I remain surprised and a little concerned we didn’t bring in a winger or central midfielder.
The fact Jacob Murphy has been our ‘impact sub’ over each of our opening six games of the season is a worry, as he’s clearly not good enough at this level.
Miguel Almiron gives his all and can still play a big part, however he’s never delivered big numbers and lacks final product; something that’s let us down on several occasions already this season during draws that could’ve been wins had we shown a bit more quality.
Perhaps we are waiting until January, where someone like Moussa Diaby may become available, but it feels like we are an Allan Saint-Maximin injury away from lacking that spark needed to win games out wide. Any Mr Green welcome offer has us less likely to win games when the Frenchman doesn’t feature, so it would’ve been nice if we could spread that threat in wide areas and become less reliant on the former Nice star.
As for our midfield options, Jonjo Shelvey’s injury meant two things. We either need to play Bruno Guimaraes deeper than we’d like – meaning his ability to affect games in the final third is limited – or Sean Longstaff plays. The latter gives his all and remains a good squad player, however he seems a level below what’s needed if we wish to unsettle the ‘big six’ or compete with West Ham for that 7th.
