Simon Jordan says Eddie Howe is a ‘fool’ after Newcastle United failed to sign Marc Guehi

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Simon Jordan believes Eddie Howe should have cast his net wider after Newcastle United failed to sign Marc Guehi.

The Magpies spent most of August trying to bring Marc Guehi to St James’ Park, only to pull out of the deal on the penultimate day of the transfer window. They could not agree a fee with Crystal Palace, resulting in Newcastle ending talks to sign Guehi.

His £75million asking price proved to be too much, with the 24-year-old remaining at Selhurst Park.

It was a major blow for Newcastle United, as Paul Mitchell believed he could sign Guehi. The Toon sporting director proved to be incorrect, while there was not a viable alternative for Newcastle to bring in.

Simon Jordan believes Eddie Howe should have identified more transfer targets

And, speaking on TalkSPORT, former Crystal Palace owner Simon Jordan has blamed Eddie Howe for that.

He has suggested that the Newcastle manager should identified more players that he would want to work with, rather than going all in on Guehi.

“He (Eddie Howe) identified a player they weren’t able to achieve,” he said.

“So maybe you should have identified a few more players and been a bit more hands-on from that respect.

“Because if you can’t get Guehi out of Palace because Palace are not a willing seller, you are a fool if that’s the only target you wanted.”

Newcastle’s alternatives were either not available or not good enough

Simon Jordan’s criticism of Eddie Howe is harsh.

Heading into the final few weeks of the window, Guehi was the only centre-back that Eddie Howe wanted. He was the club’s top target, and there was not a viable alternative. The club did look at other players, but they either were not good enough or not available anymore.

Earlier in the summer, Paul Mitchell looked at bringing Jean-Clair Todibo to Tyneside. However, some people at Newcastle did not think Todibo would be a good signing.

Elsewhere, Axel Disasi was mentioned as a possible Guehi alternative. He is a decent defender, but the Chelsea player would not have been a long-term solution to Newcastle’s problem.

It has been reported by the Daily Mail that there were other centre-backs that Howe was willing to sign earlier in the summer, but they were not available by the time Newcastle were struggling to agree a deal for Guehi.

Instead, Newcastle have gone with the approach of it is better to sign no one and save their money for the right player. It is a risk, but wasting money on the wrong player would be even more damaging.