First Europe, then the world.
Newcastle United are seven points away from the Champions League, two wins and a draw from taking a transformative leap forward on the field that few saw coming when the season kicked off.
Arsenal await on what promises to be another ferocious St James’ Park atmosphere on Sunday and given Newcastle’s recent form – they scored 13 goals in three games last week – few would bet against them inflicting further damage to the Gunners’ ailing title aspirations.
“Nothing is done and I didn’t expect it to be,” Eddie Howe said on Friday. Liverpool’s fine recent form is a handy guard against complacency.
“We’re competing against elite teams. They will fight until the end and we have to do the same.”
As fast as things are moving on the pitch, Newcastle are striving to catch up with it off it.
The club’s next big executive hire is for a global director of brand, marketing and digital media who will attempt to grow the club’s reputation overseas and that will precede a renewed crack at breaking into the American market.
i understands the club believe they can make inroads in cities and territories that have been largely neglected by the historic big four and capitalise on their growing profile this season. They have been televised 22 times on NBC this season and a behind-the-scenes Amazon documentary is currently being filmed to be released in August.
Newcastle will base themselves in Atlanta for their games in the Premier League’s US summer series, with club officials hopeful of tapping into a city that regularly boasts the biggest crowds in the MLS. It is no coincidence that CEO Darren Eales helped to launch Atlanta United.
Those expansion plans are allied with recruitment ambitions that will see the club potentially spend more than in any transfer window since the Saudi PIF arrived.
Newcastle want five players of the ilk of Bruno Guimaraes, Alexander Isak and Sven Botman – three recent imports who tick the boxes of being immediate upgrades with significant potential to improve. “The plan remains largely the same – players who can go on the journey with us,” a senior source told i.
The difference this summer is that Champions League football opens doors slammed shut on them 12 months ago. West Ham’s brilliant midfielder Declan Rice has been mentioned even though Leicester’s James Maddison is a more realistic target that the club believe can be persuaded to join.
It felt jarring, then, to see the club linked with a move for Paris Saint Germain’s Neymar as a potential “marquee signing”.
“I think that kind of speculation has been there from day one since the takeover really,” Howe said on Friday, dampening the talk.
“Naturally everyone has then assumed the biggest names in world football will be going to Newcastle. Now we’ve not recruited that way and financially we can’t recruit that way at the moment but also we have to bring the right players into the group.
“I will say the transfer market is such a complex decision there’s a lot of thought needed. You can’t just pick a name there has to be a lot of thought going into both financially and looking into players.”
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/0TbjvOQ
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