It’s fair to say that this summer’s transfer window hasn’t gone Eddie Howe and Newcastle United’s way, with setbacks, rejections and a potential major sale the constant theme of late.
The earlier news that Benjamin Sesko is all but confirmed to join Manchester United makes him the latest player to prefer a move to one of the "Big Six" in a summer filled with bad optics for this PIF project.
Coupled with the loss of some of his most trusted players in Sean Longstaff and Callum Wilson, the gaffer will no doubt be furious with how slow and ineffective this window has proven to be.
With under a month to go until deadline day, Howe has now issued his demand for what he wants to see from the recruitment team over the coming weeks to try and salvage this summer window.
With Sean Longstaff sold, Joe Willock injured, Elliot Anderson yet to be replaced and young Lewis Miley still chasing first team minutes, Howe admitted that he wants to sign at least one midfielder before the window shuts on September 1st.
Speaking to the media, Howe expressed his desire to have at least six midfielders at his disposal ahead before the end of the window, insisting more cover is needed for starting trio Bruno Guimaraes, Joelinton and Sandro Tonali:
“We had six (midfielders last season) and we want six (available for the 2025/26 season)."Now we are down to four, so that’s an issue for us.
"That is a position that we are looking in (to strengthen)."
“We don’t think Joe Willock’s injury is serious. I gave a prognosis of four to six weeks…that could be less.
“But I think it is an area that is a bit of a concern.”
Until last week, Howe may have only been looking for one extra man, but Joe Willock’s injury against the K-League XI looks to have thrown a small spanner in the works.
Fortunately however, Howe stated that we could see him recover in between four and six weeks, though it makes sense why the gaffer doesn’t want to take any risks heading into such a long, fixture-congested campaign.
In our most recent friendly against Spurs, one notable absentee was Tonali: having earned himself a workhorse label since his return from suspension last October, many fans feared that he too had suffered an injury during the tour of South Korea.
Thankfully however, Howe reported that Tonali too was getting his minutes managed, much like many of our other starters this pre-season campaign.
“Sandro Tonali is fine. There is no issue there. It was just precautionary.”“He wanted to play (against Tottenham) but it was my decision to hold him back a little bit, just make sure his knee is OK.”
With just the two Sela Cup weekender fixtures to go until our opening day clash against Aston Villa, it wouldn’t come as a surprise to see the likes of Tonali enjoy a rest for the Espanyol game but playing as many minutes as possible against Atletico Madrid.
After the summer we’ve all had, some more goalscoring heroics from the Italian against Villa would be very much welcome in gameweek 1.
