Paul Mitchell plans overhaul and Eddie Howe makes transfer stance clear - Report

Paul Mitchell is planning to oversee an overhaul of Newcastle United’s scouting department, according to a new report.

The Telegraph reveal that our new Sporting Director is getting straight to work on Tyneside and will hand a shortlist of transfer targets to Eddie Howe after positive clear-the-air talks took place after returning from a training camp in Germany last week.

It’s believed Howe has received assurances over his involvement in recruitment and has made it clear to Mitchell that he’s more than happy to sign players from overseas, insisting he was the ‘driving force’ behind the arrivals of Bruno Guimaraes from Lyon, Sven Botman from Lille and Alexander Isak from Real Sociedad.

Some have questioned whether Howe prefers to recruit players with Premier League experience after previous moves for Nick Pope, Dan Burn, Anthony Gordon, Tino Livramento, Harvey Barnes and Lloyd Kelly. However, it seems Howe has shut down those suggestions and opened to door to all transfer recommendations.

As for Mitchell’s overhaul of our scouting network, it’ll be interesting to see what this means for current head of recruitment Steve Nickson and Andy Howe; Eddie’s nephew who is another key member of our recruitment team.

Hopefully all of the above can work to good effect and even more experts can arrive to ensure we bring in top quality additions at every level of the football club.