Jamie Carragher has named the four Newcastle United players who he thinks top teams would have turned down if given the chance to sign them.
Newcastle exceeded many people’s expectations last season after qualifying for the Champions League, but Carragher believes it will be a long time before they are challenging for titles.
In his analysis in the build-up of the Liverpool game on Sky, Carragher suggested that Sven Botman, Bruno Guimaraes, Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon are all great players who are just not good enough to be playing for the best teams.
Carragher says Newcastle won’t be a top team for a long time
Newcastle have struggled to cope with the added fixtures this season and have shown a little bit of naivety when it comes to sticking to their high-intensity style of play despite the injuries and fatigue.
Though they may be the richest club in the world, Newcastle do not have the ability to spend it and until they can invest more into the team they are going to continue to struggle.
Carragher was very complimentary to the four players who Newcastle have signed in the last two years, claiming that they have all done ‘brilliantly’ since arriving on Tyneside.
However, the former Liverpool captain acknowledged that these players aren’t playing for the likes of Real Madrid or Manchester City for a reason and that Newcastle need to spend big to progress.
Prior to the game, Carragher said: “For Newcastle to win the Premier League or a Champions League I think it will be a very long time.
“The reason I say that is because Newcastle’s situation with having such wealth with their owners. It’s not as big a factor as it was when Chelsea came in with Abramovich or Man City with Sheikh Mansour, because those FA rules were not there then and they could take on the big boys and pay more wages and go to the big clubs and take their players.
“Newcastle can only sign the players the big teams don’t want right now. You think of Sven Botman at the back, Guimaraes, Anthony Gordon, Isak. They were all about £40 million, the top teams would have looked at them and thought not for me.
“They have done brilliantly at Newcastle and that’s credit to Eddie Howe, because right now he is still buying under the elite and I think that is going to continue for a long time.
“There is still talk that to comply with FFP they may have to sell one of their best players – maybe if someone offers £100 million for Bruno Guimaraes – and go again. This idea Newcastle are going to take over and consistently be in the top four, I don’t see that. And that’s why Eddie Howe is the best man for the job.”
Newcastle have to sell to succeed
In this day and age it’s impossible to simply pump money into a football team like we saw with Man City and Chelsea’s owners in the last two decades.
Newcastle have discovered this since the confirmation of their Saudi-backed takeover which has been heavily restricted by FFP and the club are now being forced to explore the loan mark and free agents in January.
As Carragher mentions, in order to progress and succeed in the Premier League, the time will come when Newcastle must sell one of their best players to reinvest back into the squad.
No one wants to see any of the aforementioned players leave the North East after proving to be so crucial to the team, but unfortunately it’s unlikely that the club will get a substantial fee for Matt Ritchie or Paul Dummett.
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