Eddie Howe has issued his verdict on Malick Thiaw’s stunning start to life at Newcastle United.
Though attention has understandably been focused on Nick Woltemade’s rapid-fire adaptation at Newcastle United, Thiaw isn’t far behind.
Indeed, Newcastle thought Thiaw would prove to be a transfer bargain and that so far looks to be the case.
Thiaw could eventually cost Newcastle £34.3million and that increasingly looks like excellent value for money.
Ahead of Sunday’s trip to West Ham, the Newcastle United manager was asked about the former AC Milan defender.
- Who is Malick Thiaw? Meet the ‘very good’ defender Eddie Howe has brought to Newcastle United
Eddie Howe praises Newcastle United star Malick Thiaw
Howe was speaking to Sky Sports reporter Keith Downie during an interview.
Downie said that Thiaw represented a “bargain” in the transfer market, though did go on to joke that upwards of £30million is still an awful lot of money.
That is true of course, although finances in football are so detached from reality these days and arguably anything under £40million in the Premier League isn’t seen as that expensive.
Howe laughed at the suggestion that spending multi-millions could be seen as a bargain but did go on to say to Sky Sports: “He’s a prospect for the future but also the here and now.
“He’s settled in really well. I think he’s built good friendships, especially with Nick [Woltemade].
“You can see Malick and Nick have built up that strong relationship. It’s important that you have the strength of those relationships around from day to day.
“On the pitch, I think he’s been excellent. Very calm, quite quiet in his work but you can see on the pitch how aggressive he is and how much he wants to win and help the team.
“He’s distributed the ball really well. He’s athletic.”
Newcastle United were shocked about Malick Thiaw before they even signed him
Newcastle couldn’t believe more clubs weren’t trying to sign Thiaw this summer, having rated him highly behind the scenes for a while.
The disappointment of missing out on Marc Guehi in the summer of 2024 now seems a very distant thing of the past.
Thiaw, along with Sven Botman, looks like the future of Newcastle United’s defence. Dan Burn and Fabian Schar may have something to say about that in the immediate term, but Thiaw and Botman are much younger.
There are many defenders in the Premier League who have cost a lot more than Thiaw and do not look anywhere near as good at this stage.
He’s still got a lot to prove but the early signs are very promising indeed.
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