With the transfer window due to officially open next week, Newcastle United are formalising their plans ahead of what is going to be an exciting summer.
The Magpies are back in the Champions League, and their signings need to reflect that. Eddie Howe needs players who can improve his squad and deal with the rigours of playing in Europe’s elite competition.
However, players like that come at a premium, and, despite PIF’s incredible wealth, the Magpies do not have a bottomless pit of money to spend on reinforcements.
Newcastle need to be clever in the transfer market. Howe wants a left-back, a centre-back, two centre-midfielders and a wide forward, all of which will be tasked with helping Newcastle compete in the Champions League and hopefully at the top end of the Premier League.
With so many new signings needed and anything but unlimited resources, Newcastle need to be savvy. Not every signing can be a £50million superstar.
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Instead, the Magpies are going to try to follow Liverpool’s lead from a few years ago.
Newcastle look to sign relegated players
Leicester City, Leeds United and Southampton were relegated from the Premier League this season, yet they all boast multiple players who can still perform in the top flight of English football.
And Newcastle are looking to scoop them up. Howe’s side intend to pick the bones of the aforementioned clubs, with the Magpies eyeing up multiple targets from Leicester, Leeds and Southampton.
The biggest name is James Maddison, but there is also interest in Tyler Adams from Leeds and Kyle Walker-Peters from Southampton, plus many more.
There is some snobbery towards signing players from relegated clubs, with some Toon fans expecting the club to target higher profile names ahead of our Champions League return.
However, there is nothing wrong with signing relegated players – as Liverpool proved a few years ago.
Liverpool have had great success doing this
Jurgen Klopp built an incredible team that won it all, but it was not a side completely made up of superstar names and signings who were readymade for success. Instead, some of Klopp’s additions came from relegated clubs.
In 2016, they bought Gini Wijnaldum from us after we dropped out of the Premier League. The year after, they snapped up Andy Robertson from Hull City.
Both players ended up playing huge roles in Liverpool’s success, and fully deserved the Premier League, Champions League and Club World Cup winners medals they now own. Robertson also has an FA Cup and a League Cup.
Of course, they weren’t Liverpool’s only signings. In 2016 they got Sadio Mane, and in 2017 it was Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk. But Wijnaldum and Robertson ended up developing at Anfield and becoming key cogs in the Liverpool machine.
Just because a player has been relegated does not mean they are tarnished. They can still go on to thrive at a different club in a new environment with potentially better coaching.
That is why Newcastle fans should not turn their noses up at talk of signing the likes of Tyler Adams. Big money signings will arrive, but additions from relegated clubs could be just as important.
After all, who remembers where we got Nick Pope from last summer?