Newcastle’s £60m transfer gamble has already been exposed – opinion

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Newcastle United took a risk in the transfer market this summer, and it is already showing signs of backfiring.

The Magpies worked on enhancing their squad over the past few months, bringing in four new faces to flesh out Eddie Howe‘s team ahead of competing in the Champions League. The Toon boss needed more depth, and he has got just that.

Sandro Tonali has added more class in midfield, while Harvey Barnes is much more lethal in the final third than the man he replaced at St James’ Park, Allan Saint-Maximin.

Elsewhere, Newcastle spent £32million to sign Tino Livramento from Southampton. They also brought in Lewis Hall on loan from Chelsea, with the deal set to become permanent next summer for £28million.

That is £60million spent on backup full-backs. That is a lot of money for two players who are going to sit on the bench – especially when money is so tight.

In the long run, the decision will no doubt prove to be correct. Livramento and Hall both have huge amounts of potential, and should become stars at St James’ Park.

However, the club’s decision to splash out on them rather than a new centre-back looks like it could be a mistake in the short term.

Newcastle took a massive risk not signing a centre-back

Heading into the summer transfer window, it looked all but certain that Newcastle would bring in a new right-sided centre-back. They wanted someone who could compete with before eventually replacing Fabian Schar.

But that did not happen. The players Newcastle wanted were either deemed too expensive or too inexperienced to take Schar’s place right now.

Therefore, the Magpies put their centre-back search on hold and went all in on Hall and Livramento. Yet while Newcastle’s centre-backs struggled at Brighton, Howe had £60million worth of fullbacks sitting on the bench.

Newcastle are severely lacking options at the back, and really need everyone to stay fit and continue performing at the same level as last season. That is a big ask.

We have already seen Sven Botman suffer an injury, while Schar picked up a knock during the defeat to Brighton. Elsewhere, Dan Burn really struggled and Jamaal Lascelles has barely played since Howe became manager.

Centre-back is a clear position of weakness, and one that the club failed to address during the summer.

Newcastle gambled on signing players for the future rather than the present, and it is a risk that will take a while to pay off. Right now, it is looking like they may have made a mistake.