During the Premier League years a constant increase in the price of transfer fees is clear, but what would the most expensive Toon team be if they were signed in 2022?
TotallyMoney’s transfer index depicts the inflation of transfer fees throughout the Premier League era. For example; £20 million used to get you Alan Shearer but now that would only get you half of Morgan Gibbs-White.
This is what Newcastle’s most expensive xi would be if they were bought in the current transfer market, with prices based on TransferMarkt figures:
GK – Shaka Hislop
1995: £1.98million, Now: £18.81million.
Hislop signed on the back of being Reading’s player of the season in 1994/95, and guided Newcastle to the top of the Premier League until December that year when he picked up an injury and lost his place to Pavel Srnicek.
The Trinidad-and-Tobago shotstopper made 53 appearances before leaving to join West Ham on a free in 1998, after manager Kenny Dalglish bought in fresh competition in Shay Given in 1997.
RB – Warren Barton
1995: £4.05million, Now: £38.47million
Barton became the most expensive defender in English football when he joined Kevin Keegans ‘entertainers’ in the summer of 1995.
He was eventually displaced from the first team by Aaron Hughes in the 2001-02 season, making just five league appearances before joining Derby County for £200,000 ending a seven year stay in the North East.
CB – Darren Peacock
1994: £4.5million, Now: £63.94million
After arriving from QPR, Peacock was a mainstay of Keegan’s backline before Dalglish took the reigns. The Bristolian played 34 times in the 1995/96 season as the Magpies finished second.
Peacock was moved on to Blackburn Rovers in 1998, where serious injury problems curtailed his career. He retired in 2001 aged just 33, and remains the ‘most expensive defender’ in the club’s history when considering these metrics.
CB – Jonathan Woodgate
2003: £12.15million, Now: £46.56million
Woodgate impressed in his short time on Tyneside, so much so he earned a move to Real Madrid just 18 months after joining from Leeds.
His exiting transfer fee of £16.47million would equate to £59.1million today, meaning you could argue Newcastle netted a £13.5million profit after just a season and a half of service – and the third highest fee received in ‘today’s money’.
LB – Alessandro Pistone
1997: £5.85million, Now: £33.71million
A then 21-year-old Pistone got the attention of Newcastle manager Dalglish during an impressive season at Inter. The Italian operated at both full-back and centre-back for the Magpies.
Ruud Gullit didn’t find much use for Pistone after taking over from Dalglish, with the full-back being forced to train with the reserves and not being given a squad number. Sir Bobby Robson reinstated Pistone to the first team, becoming a regular once more.
In July 2000 the defender was moved on to Everton for a fee in the region of £3million, where he would make over 100 appearances.
RM – Damien Duff
2006: £13.95million, Now: £48.24million
The most recent signing on this list after the more frugal years of Mike Ashley, the Irishman joined from the previous seasons Premier League winners, Chelsea, and was part of the side that won the Intertoto Cup.
Duff’s time in black-and-white was plagued with injury, including a career threatening ankle injury against Portsmouth in April 2007. In 2009, Fulham would buy the midfielder for £4m, where he would remain for five years.
CM – David Batty
1996: £4.64million, Now: £44.08million
Batty, capped 42 times for England, was part of the side that finished runners up in 1995/96 and 1996/97, and started in the 1998 FA Cup final.
The rebuild under Gullit saw Batty move back to Leeds United, where he started his career, in January of 1999 for a fee believed to be around £5.75m. The midfielder played the last game of his career on 7th January 2004, picking up an injury in a game against Newcastle.
CM – Hugo Viana
2002: £11.48million, Now: £44million
Sir Bobby recruited then 19-year-old Viana after he won Young European Footballer of the Year with Robson’s former side, Sporting Lisbon, in his first ever professional season.
Viana, who retired in 2016, remains the most expensive teenager Newcastle has ever signed at the time of writing, but failed to cement a starting position on Tyneside and left for Valencia in 2006 after just 61 appearances in black-and-white.
LM – Albert Luque
2005: £18million, Now: £69.8million
The Spaniard’s Newcastle career got off to a horror start, suffering a hamstring injury in just his second game, and he never lived up to his large price tag.
His first and last Premier League goal was a chip in the Tyne-Wear derby in April of 2006, managing three goals in all competitions in his two years with Newcastle.
Luque was one of four Newcastle transfers involved in Lord Stevens’ investigation into football corruption, and found that there were “unanswered questions” relating to possible payments made by Luque’s agent.
CF – Michael Owen
2005: £22.5million, Now: £87.25million
A club record signing when he joined from The Galácticos, a lot of Geordies don’t look back too fondly on the 89-capped England international’s Tyneside stint, with Owen himself saying he regrets the move.
Owen’s Newcastle career started promisingly, scoring his first goal in his second game for the club and netting a perfect hat-trick in December of 2005. Things soon went downhill from here, with Owen breaking his metatarsal before the end of the year.
This was the first of five injuries Owen suffered, missing 74 games before leaving for Manchester United on a free after Newcastle were relegated in 2009.
CF – Alan Shearer
1996: £16.2million, Now: £118.31million
Save the best for last? Newcastle and the Premier League’s top scorer since the competition started, the hometown hero gave ten years of service to the club as a player.
After signing for a then world-record breaking transfer fee from Blackburn Rovers, Shearer scored 206 league goals in black-and-white.
He captained Newcastle to the 1998 and 1999 FA Cup final, and retired in 2006 as the club’s all-time top scorer.
No Ginola, Albert, Sir Les, Tino, Speed, Nobby, Dyer?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
Given, Robert, Cabaye?
Eric Sykes(Quote)
I think I know what you did. You looked at who was actually the most expensive when they were bought in their position. It was not about value it was about highest cost at each position at the time. I misunderstood what you were saying, sorry.
Eric Sykes(Quote)