Newcastle United have reportedly ‘agreed’ a deal for Ross Wilson to become the club’s new sporting director.
Sporting directors have become crucial in football and Newcastle United learned just how difficult life can be without one this summer, especially in the transfer market.
Newcastle have been without a sporting director since June, when Paul Mitchell suddenly decided to leave his post after a year.
With the club operating under PSR restrictions, Mitchell didn’t even get the chance to make a major signing during his time at the club, with his exit leaving Eddie Howe in the lurch.
Newcastle struggled for much of the summer transfer window and missed out on several of Howe’s top targets as they were outmanoeuvred by their much savvier Premier League rivals.
However, the position looks like it is finally coming close to getting filled by Nottingham Forest’s Ross Wilson.
Newcastle have long been linked with Wilson and Ben Jacobs reports on Friday that he has ‘agreed to become Newcastle’s new sporting director.’
However, a deal still needs to be struck with Forest before he can move to St. James’ Park.
Here is every signing Wilson made during his time at the City Ground and what Newcastle can learn from his dealings.
- Newcastle United 2025/26 squad cost – Transfer fees and stats for every player
Ross Wilson signed X players while at Nottingham Forest
After previously working his way up at Watford, Falkirk, Huddersfield Town and Southampton, Wilson got his first sporting director role at Rangers.
After four years in Glasgow, Wilson was hired by Nottingham Forest in April 2023.
It’s been an exciting and often tumultuous time at Forest under Evangelos Marinakis’ rule, but the club has enjoyed its best season in decades during Wilson’s time there.
There was constant player movement during the period, too, with Wilson having a hand in signing a massive 43 players across five transfer windows.
Here’s who he brought in.
Summer 2023 window:
- Ibrahim Sangare – PSV – £30m
- Anthony Elanga – Manchester United – £15m
- Chris Wood – Newcastle United – £15m
- Andrew Omobamidele – Norwich City – £11m
- Murillo – Corinthians – £10.3m
- Matt Turner – Arsenal – £7m
- Nicolas Dominguez – Bologna – Swap deal
- Odysseas Vlachodimos – Benfica – £7.7m
- Callum Hudson-Odoi – Chelsea – £3m
- Nuno Tavares – Arsenal – Loan
- Ola Aina – Torino – Free
- Divock Origi – AC Milan – Loan
- Gonzalo Montiel – Sevilla – Loan
- Andrey Santos – Chelsea – Loan
Total spend (not including loan of undisclosed fees): £90m
January 2024 window:
- Matz Sels – Strasbourg – £5m
- Giovanni Reyna – Borussia Dortmund – Loan
- Rodrigo Ribeiro – Sporting – Loan
Total spend (not including loan of undisclosed fees): £5m
Summer 2024 window:
- Elliot Anderson – Newcastle United – £35m
- Nikola Milenkovic – Fiorentina – £12m
- Ramon Sosa – CA Talleres – Undisclosed
- Morato – Benfica – £15m
- David Carmo – Porto – Undisclosed
- Jota Silva – Guimaraes – £10.1m
- Marko Stamenic – Red Star – Undisclosed
- Carlos Miguel – Corinthians – Undisclosed
- Eric Moreira – St. Pauli – £1.3m
- Alex Moreno – Aston Villa – Loan
- James Ward-Prowse – West Ham – Loan
- Shea Cahill – Brisbane Roar – Free
Total spend (not including loan of undisclosed fees): £73.4m
January 2025 window:
- Tyler Bindon – Reading – Undisclosed
Summer 2025 window:
- Omari Hutchinson – Ipswich Town – £37.5m
- Dan Ndoye – Bologna – £34m
- Dilane Bakwa – Strasbourg – £34.7m
- Arnaud Kalimuendo – Rennes – £25m
- James McAtee – Manchester City – £30m
- Igor Jesus – Botafogo – £10m
- Nicolo Savona – Juventus – £11.25m
- Jair Cunha – Botafogo – Undisclosed
- John Victor – Botafogo – Undisclosed
- Cuiabano – Botafogo – Undisclosed
- Douglas Luiz – Juventus – Loan
- Angus Gunn – Norwich City – Free
- Alekz Zinchenko – Arsenal – Loan
Total spend (not including loan of undisclosed fees): £182.45m
In total, not taking loan or undisclosed fees into account, Nottingham Forest have spent a minimum of £350.85m while Wilson has been in his role.
What will Ross Wilson bring to Newcastle United?
Well, the first thing you notice when you glance at Wilson’s transfer activity is: ‘blimey, that’s a lot of signings and a lot of money.’
Forest have recruited massively since returning to the Premier League in 2022, with the directive clearly coming from Marinakis, given it was in place before Wilson was hired.
While a lot of the signings have been successful, quite a lot haven’t been.
Wilson will not get as much freedom to sign so many players at Newcastle, so he will have to ensure his hit rate remains high with less room for punt signings that might not work out.
However, it’s clear to see that Wilson has a keen eye for a player, with the majority of his signings falling within four interesting categories.
- 1 – Young players at big clubs with potential who aren’t getting a real chance to show it. Examples: James McAtee, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Anthony Elanga.
- 2 – Players who once were fantastic but have struggled and seen their values drop. Examples: Douglas Luiz, Chris Wood.
- 3 – Talents in the South American market, especially Brazil. Examples: Igor Jesus, Murillo, Jair Cunha.
- 4 – Players not many people have heard of, who turn out to be brilliant – Murillo, Nikola Milenkovic, Ola Aina.
All areas are very exciting and have been extremely beneficial for Nottingham Forest.
It says a lot that so many of Wilson’s signings were all crucial members of the side that defied expectations in 2024-25 and came close to securing Champions League football.
If you add Wilson’s nose for a bargain (Aina, Hudson-Odoi, Murillo, Sels) as well as the cut-throat negotiations he held with Newcastle to ensure the Toon signed Odysseas Vlachodimos if the sale of starlet Elliot Anderson was to go through, then it seems Newcastle will be recruiting a very cunning operator in the transfer market.
Exactly what they need.
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