Newcastle’s wait for signings – Why we shouldn’t panic just yet as CB saga drags on

The centre-back situation, pursuit of Malick Thiaw, and current summer transfer window has been an interesting one at Newcastle United.

Regarding Thiaw, the signing of Strahinja Pavlovic for AC Milan should make it easier (although Pavlovic is a left-side centre-back, and that’s more Fikayo Tomori’s role). The difference in valuation sounds like the issue, and my personal opinion is that it’ll end up being resolved.

If Newcastle’s valuation is €30m (which I think is completely fair), while AC Milan’s is €40m – then I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up finding an agreement. This sounds like the sort of deal which will edge closer to completion as the window goes on. And given our financial situation, I think the club would rather not blink, and therefore wait longer, rather than overpay to get him in early.

We’ll see. I wouldn’t be surprised if some other centre-back links pop up in the meantime to try and force Milan’s hand a bit, like what we saw with the Nayef Aguerd links in 2022 during the Sven Botman saga.

It’s tough operating in the market we’re in right now. We need a specific profile of CB and RW, without loads of financial leeway, and also with a fairly high minimum level of quality. There’ll have to be a sacrifice somewhere. Either that’s on profile fit, quality, or price. Which one the club chooses to go with will be an interesting decision.

I think the bottom line is just to be patient. In an ideal world, we’d have got them in before the Japan trip, but it wasn’t to be. Players can still turn up in late August and not miss a beat though, so I wouldn’t fret too much about that (see Alexander Isak).

Let’s judge the window when it closes. A lot of our best business has been done right at the end of the window (Bruno, Isak, Gordon), and I’m sure we’ll see that happen again.

It’s frustrating at the moment, and as each day passes, that frustration mounts – but there’s still time. There might be some things to iron out behind the scenes on the back of all of the structural changes we’ve seen, and that’s natural.

The signings will come, make no mistake. Yeah, it’s a cliche – but let’s not panic yet. Judge the window and everything else that comes with it on the 31st of August.