Newcastle are NOT stagnating - despite the frustrating wait for two key signings

There's obviously a bit of unease about the lack of first-team signings at Newcastle United so far in this window, especially when compared to the last two summer windows.

Amongst that, I've seen talk of us "stagnating", or even being in a worse position than last season - which couldn't be more incorrect.

Not many new faces have arrived and the fact top target Marc Guehi starts for Crystal Palace today hasn't helped some, but crucially, our existing group of players has improved significantly.

This time last year, Anthony Gordon hadn't yet delivered for us. His stock was relatively low, and he was a player who was still pretty unproven for Newcastle. A year later, 23 goal contributions later, and an England call-up later - he's now one of the best wingers in the league. He's a different player now.

There are so many examples like that: Isak has further developed into one of the best strikers in the world. Bruno has become *even* better. Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento have been fully integrated now, and look like players who aren't far off England callups. Lewis Miley has emerged extremely impressively. And there are plenty more similar cases throughout the squad.

So although we haven't yet addressed the centre-back and right-winger needs in our squad (although of course there are still three weeks left of the window), we've still seen improvements in the squad - but through our existing crop of players.

I understand that new names will always seemingly be the sole measure of squad improvement - but that isn't really the case often in football. Development and improvement of players is equally (if not more) important.

Of course every team will see their squads improve internally too - but in Newcastle's case, the improvement has been, and will be, more stark. And a major reason is because of our investment in younger players over the last 3 years, which will keep beating fruits. Hall, Osula, Tonali, Barnes, Livramento, Isak Gordon, Botman, Bruno, Willock - all 25 and under when we signed them.

Yes, a couple of new signings would be nice, but don't forget how much we've also improved internally in our existing crop of players. We've got a young squad who are only getting better and more experienced, and has had depth added to it through Kelly and Osula.

A couple of first-team additions (CB and RW), and it'll be an amazing window - but let's not forget that there's more to squad improvement than transfers. And Newcastle have excelled in those other areas.

This talented group of players is rapidly growing in quality and experience.