It’s been well documented over the past week why we struggled to land late deals over the final week of the summer transfer window.
Eddie Howe admitted that Premier League clubs had no interest in help us out, suggesting late loan offers were rejected as our rivals didn’t want to do business with Newcastle United.
Sky Sports’ Keith Downie has offered additional insight behind our failure to sign a winger, midfielder or right-back on deadline day, revealing that Howe’s “insistence on the right characters and personalities” complicated matters in the final days of the window.
As we’ve seen, the boss is determined to bring in individuals who are not only good players but also good people, often talking up the importance of maintaining togetherness within the group.
With that in mind, we were never going to accept any old player – no matter how talented – who were offered our way on loan during deadline day, as Howe seems intent on recruiting the right characters who will not only put in a shift but buy into what he’s trying to achieve within the squad.
Here’s what Downie had to say about our deadline day struggles, suggesting Premier League rivals refusing to help or the ‘Newcastle tax’ wasn’t the only issues that complicates our bid for late deals:
‘The thing that made it toughest for Newcastle doing a deal on Deadline Day was Eddie Howe’s insistence on the right characters and personalities to augment his squad.
‘He doesn’t sign players for the sake of adding a number.’
Don’t see that as a problem myself. We’ve got a great team spirit so why gamble on a big ego spoiling it. In Eddie I trust.
Bobbybee(Quote)
Yeh, agreed – I say as much in the article mate. It’s a great way of keeping the team spirit high while we add quality.
Olly Hawkins(Quote)
Personally I think that talent, goals and a bit of grit would be nice to have.
If the players don’t go to the movies together or message each other through the week I can live with that, but sometimes you need a bit of a Bellamy, or a Robert to help things along.
I’ve worked with guys who have been complete dicks at work, but the work they did was superb.
It’s difficult enough to get decent players in, but if you start insisting that they have to have blue eyes and enjoy jigsaw puzzles then you’re just making things more difficult than they need to be.
BykerBill(Quote)