According to a flurry of reports emerging on Paul Mitchell’s appointment, our new sporting director will be given more influence than Dan Ashworth to identify and pursue transfer targets on Tyneside.
It’s believed this was a key factor in landing the 42-year-old, with The Times reporting that he’ll be ‘heavily involved’ in our summer spending and work directly alongside Toon boss Eddie Howe in a ‘crucial’ window for the club.
That’s a promising sign given his excellent record in recruitment, where he brought Dele Alli to Spurs, signed Kieran Trippier for just £3.5m, brought Son Heung-min and Sadio Mane to the Premier League for a combined £32m and secured Christopher Nkunku for £11m before he scored goals for fun at RB Leipzig and sealed a £52m move to Chelsea.
The i report that he’s already been working on potential signings in the background, as his appointment was kept secret and unable to be announced until Ashworth’s official release, and one name mentioned in that same piece is Pedro Neto.
Newcastle are prioritising the signing of a quality right-winger, a right-sided centre-back – talks have taken place over AC Milan’s Malick Thiaw – and another striker should Callum Wilson leave, but it’s intriguing to see Neto’s name crop up again.
Matt Hughes (the i) reveals that the Portuguese international ‘remains a target’, with the 24-year-old tipped to leave Wolves this summer and ticking plenty of boxes for Newcastle United.
His electric pace, directness, ability to play both sides and create will excite Howe, although there will be concerns over his injury record after two separate hamstring injuries limiting him to 20 Premier League appearances last season.
He bagged two goals and nine assists in that time and caused havoc when fit, although it would be a risk to pay big money given our injury woes last season and the physical demands Howe places on his players.
On the subject of wingers, the i reveal that we’ll hold talks with Anthony Gordon after the Euros in a bid to settle any doubt surrounding his future, with the England international a key player amid suggestions his head was turned by Liverpool.
Neto has played 111 games for Woves in 5 seasons
There are 190 games in 5 seasons. Neto has been injured for 79 games. He’s missed 42% of all Premier League matches.
In those 111 games he’s score 11 goals. That is a joke! That’s 1 goal every 9.909 games – More or less 1 in 10.
Assists 19. That’s 1 assist in every 5 more or less.
So to be accurate we want to sell Wilson because he’s always injured & we want to sell Miggy because he never scores goals.
Neto is those 2 players combined, never fit, never scores when he fit.
Neto is that player of his generation that everyone thinks is world class because he’s never fit. When he plays he looks electric but never stays fit enough to ever show any sort of consistent form.
Signing this lad would be a massive waste of £60million.
David(Quote)
I dont even know what to say to this. What were isak, Gordon and Bruno stats before they got to Newcastle.
It’s about buying talent. And neto has absolute bags of it. The only concern is his injuries, what he’ll bring on the field when fit, I’d say a blind man could see it, but you haven’t. I’ll just assume you haven’t watched him play. He is different class entirely
Toonali87(Quote)
It’s got to be Chiesa for me he has a pedigree at international level and Tonali will help him settle in quickly.
Joseph(Quote)