Warren Barton now says Newcastle should have signed ‘world-class’ midfielder

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Former Newcastle United defender Warren Barton has been reflecting on the start to the season and the summer transfer window.

Once the most expensive defender in British football when Newcastle paid £4.5million to Wimbledon for Warren Barton, his golden-locks became a feature of the Kevin Keegan back line. Barton loved his time at Newcastle so much he still refers to the club as “we” and “us”.

Which is probably why the Fox Sport pundit admits to The Chronicle that he’s being ‘greedy’ by wishing Newcastle had made one more signing this summer to put them on the next rung of the ladder.

Barton would have loved to see Maddison at Newcastle

Barton got on to the subject of Newcastle’s transfer activity where he admitted he wished Newcastle had pushed harder to sign James Maddison.

Maddison was constantly linked with Newcastle, to the point where some outlets were pointing to it being a done deal, but the England playmaker signed for Tottenham where he’s gone on to be phenomenal, picking up the August Player of the Month.

Leeds United CEO Angus Kinnear recently labeled Maddison as “World-class” in an interview on The Square Ball Podcast, which might be hyperbole right now but he has the potential.

Newcastle ended up signing his former Leicester City teammate Harvey Barnes who Eddie Howe seemed to fancy more than Maddison.

Barton told The Chronicle: “I did say go for Jude Bellingham, I was very ambitious! I think we’ve done well, I would have liked to have seen James Maddison. That’s not because he’s started well at Tottenham, he has that x-factor and he’s different to how we play.

Newcastle could have done with an extra body in defence

“It’s me being greedy, I would have liked to have seen one more player we really recognise as an international. Maddison would have been that difference when teams are sitting back and making it difficult, like when we played Leeds at home last season. It’s not necessarily taking someone’s place, it’s about making the depth of the squad stronger.

“You’re going to need a depth of talent, and I felt like we could have done with one more. I’m not going to question the recruitment because their record speaks for itself, but now the expectations are high.”

Like Barton I would have loved to have seen Maddison come to Newcastle but it wasn’t meant to be. I’m happy with the business the club did in the summer, although I feel like that one extra player Barton is talking about should have been a centre-back.