“Just imagine what they’re going to do in the summer.”
The WhatsApp from an agent who had talked to Newcastle’s ownership group several times over their frantic January strikes at the heart of the contradiction that looms over St James’ Park.
The Magpies are a club transformed by their autumn takeover but still imprisoned by the circumstances they inherited.
A £90million spend that included deals for current England and Brazil internationals – as well as the top scorer of one of their direct relegation rivals – has undoubtedly pushed the dial in Newcastle’s favour in the survival battle. But the very fact they entered the transfer window 17th, light on firepower and in desperate need of strengthening the spine of the team meant selling clubs could sniff black and white blood.
More from Football
All over Europe, Newcastle tabled bids for players who ticked the dual boxes of improving the team and being able to “plug in and play” in the Premier League. Lille’s Sven Botman, considered by one recruitment source who spoke to i as the “best young defender in Europe”, was the subject of several bids. They asked about the price and circumstances of Benfica’s Darwin Nunez. Diego Carlos, Sevilla’s talismanic centre-back, was the subject of two weeks of intense interest.
But just as they found with Jesse Lingard and Manchester United’s attempt to squeeze a £12million survival bonus out of Newcastle, availability was the biggest problem Newcastle’s new-look transfer team encountered.
“If teams won’t sell, you have a problem,” a senior source told i earlier in the window. “These clubs will realise what we’re all about in time. We won’t set a precedent which will be held against us in the years to come.”
So they got busy doing what they could: paying a premium for Lyon’s Bruno Guimaraes who has the potential to be a top class number six. Kieran Trippier was, in the words of the same senior source, “the perfect deal”. Chris Wood will shoulder the scoring burden while Dan Burn shakes things up at the back.
It seriously upgrades Newcastle’s squad but offers no guarantees against them going down. There’s a nagging suspicion that the team might not have enough goals in it and for all that they have spent £90million on new players, it feels like their investment in Eddie Howe is going to be the key one.
Howe will have to mould the new arrivals into a unit and find ways of making the team more threatening going forward. Wood is useful at Premier League level but it’s impossible to ignore the fact they could really have done with another striker – or even paying the money for Lingard.
More from Football
Put out to the Tyneside public for grading, most fans came back with a score between 7 and 8 out of 10 for the new owners’ first window. And we now know more about their driving football principles: no prima donnas, no players on their way out and certainly no moves for expensive players like Ousmane Dembele, consistently linked with a move to Newcastle without there ever having been interest.
“We were linked with more than 100 players. A lot of them were agents trying to use us,” a senior source said. They had better get used to it as they start to plan for a summer in which everyone accepts it will be easier to do deals with rivals who have weeks rather than a month to source a replacement.
“Maybe if that offer comes along in the summer, then things might have changed,” Sevilla’s Sporting Director Monchi said of their series of bids for Carlos. And that tells you a lot about how the landscape will change for Newcastle in the summer months.
But everyone knows they need to be a Premier League team to make it happen. A tense few months lie ahead.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/DXT6irYEU
Post a Comment