INNSBRUCK, AUSTRIA – JULY 17: Newcastle United Head Coach Eddie Howe holds a ball under his arm … More
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It wouldn’t be pre-season at Newcastle United without a dose of anxiety and frustration. Supporters are used to difficulty in the summer months, but it doesn’t get any easier to digest each year. With just weeks to go until the Premier League season kicks off, there is concern that the club is far from ready for what will be arguably its most testing campaign yet.
Those fears were not allayed by the first friendly match at Celtic on Saturday. Newcastle was humbled 4-0 in Glasgow; a jolt in the arm for everybody. There is context in every game, and it should be noted that Celtic is three weeks ahead of Newcastle in its preparations; at this stage, that makes a world of difference.
Newcastle played that game off the back of an intense week of training in the Austrian mountains. The players were clearly off the pace, and will need to be in better shape by the time they face Arsenal in Singapore on Sunday. But none of that really mattered once Howe had taken his first press conference; Alexander Isak’s absence amid intense speculation linking him with a move to Liverpool was the headline, but Howe didn’t miss an opportunity to echo the fraught feeling around transfers.
Only one first team player has arrived this summer, in the form of winger Anthony Elanga from Nottingham Forest. Although he was one of Howe’s primary targets, costing an initial £52m ($70m), solving a problem on the right wing which has caused issues for a number of years, the slow pace with which Newcastle has strengthened other key areas, and more pertinently the number of first choice options it has failed to land, is a worry.
Many people have speculated as to why it has been so tough. Newcastle is in the Champions League and won its first domestic trophy for 70 years; after almost breaching Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) last summer, there is much more freedom to spend big. Has the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) lost interest? What does the future hold?
Some have even compared this summer to the inactive, ineffectual years under previous owner Mike Ashley, such has been the volume of silence at times. But the issue is completely the opposite; Ashley used Newcastle as a tool to promote his other businesses, and did not want to spend big money on new signings. PIF, for all the fair questions being put its way over its motivation to help Newcastle grow, has backed a number of big money bids this summer, including one which would have broken the club’s transfer record.
Ambition is the problem, of sorts. Newcastle has made itself competitive with a shrewd approach to recruitment, signing a combination of high ceiling, potentially world class, players from European clubs like Isak, Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes, players from English clubs who have developed with Howe’s coaching, such as Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall, and the best of teams relegated from the Premier League, including Harvey Barnes and Nick Pope.
Similar options are on the table for Newcastle this summer. It is in need of a striker, goalkeeper and central defender as a minimum, has opted instead to move for lower risk targets; that comes at a literal cost. Dean Huijsen, Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo, Joao Pedro and Hugo Ekitike have all been struck off the list because they’ve signed for the likes of Real Madrid, Chelsea and Liverpool.
James Trafford, a long time goalkeeper target, is said to be closing in on a return to former club Manchester City.
“It has been a really frustrating summer,” Howe told reporters on Saturday. “We’ve been very close to signing several players and for different reasons – there’s not one theme why we haven’t signed more – we’ve ended up missing out on a few who would have made a difference.
“The one most important factor in any transfer is the player has to want to come to Newcastle. We’re a very proud club and are proud of what we do, so any player has to feel that.
“If they don’t, for whatever reason, I don’t think it’s a healthy transfer. Every player we have signed to this point, that’s gone on to be hugely successful with us, has had that desire to come. So, for me, that’s the number one thing.”
NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 05: Alexander Isak of Newcastle United celebrates scoring a … More
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How does Newcastle United solve its transfer issues?
Missing out on targets is tough, but understandable when they go on to play for richer, more historical clubs than Newcastle. What Howe says magnifies the flaw in the plan; Newcastle wants to make immediate improvements to the first team, but can’t or won’t pay on a similar level to the competition. So, not only is being desperate to join Newcastle a necessary requirement, it has to be in spite of knowing they will likely earn less than they could elsewhere.
Suddenly, a very small pool of players becomes a non-existent pool of players.
The beauty of deals like Isak and Tonali was the players were every bit as good as the club requires now. The same rivals had looked at them and decided against moving for whatever reason, be it form or injury. In 2022, the last summer when seemingly everyone wanted a striker, Manchester City signed Erling Haaland early in the window. Liverpool led, and won, a Europe-wide charge to sign Darwin Nunez from Benfica, which also involved Newcastle.
By the time it came to signing Isak in late August, Newcastle had a clear run to sign him and gambled that he’d make good on his potential. He’d scored just six league goals the previous season and the £63m ($85m) fee paid was viewed as a huge risk. Three years on, Liverpool is desperate to sign Isak for a British record fee and willing to sell Nunez in a cut-price deal.
The illusion of certainty in football only drives up prices, and Newcastle cannot pay them. It isn’t a lack of ability or willingness to sign players that is holding the club back, but rather its own choices. Taking similar gambles on potential and backing Howe’s ability to develop it is the only realistic way forward.
