It feels like last summer’s Newcastle United transfer window has had an enormous impact on this current one.
With Elanga and Wissa misfiring all campaign and Ramsey taking a while to show his quality, I wonder if the board are nervous of making the same mistakes and potentially overpaying for another underwhelming signing.
Our only real success of last season’s transfers was Malick Thiaw who had never played a minute of Premier League football.
Add to that three of our best signings under this ownership have been Bruno, Isak and Tonali, who all fit that profile too.
Are the board becoming too obsessed with uncovering more of those and not trusting in the tried and tested?
Aston Villa beat us to Manzambi and I’ve been a bit jealous of some of their other dealings too. Joao Gomes at £34m, rising to £38m, looks like fantastic business. That is one we could have wrapped up long before Villa lost Rogers and Tielemans and turned their sights on the former Wolves player. They are currently concluding a deal for Wan Bissaka for between £20m and £25m. This again feels like a good price. He’s a no-frills defender but he is efficient at stopping wingers and doing the basics well. He’s 28, has loads of Premier League experience and can play in both full back positions. For me, he would have been a perfect replacement for Trippier and could have been purchased within days of West Ham suffering relegation.
Admittedly, I’m biased. I had both of those players in my Raid The Relegated article at the end of the season. Had Tottenham gone down, I had Bergvall and Spence pencilled in as two of my picks from them. We’ve reportedly had a bid rejected for Bergvall, whilst Spence has just signed for Inter Milan for £30m. I think that’s another fantastic price considering his age, versatility and performances in the latter stages of the World Cup.
I don’t know why we didn’t negotiate Bergvall as part of theSandro Tonali deal. Could we have got Spence in there too? Tottenham were desperate for Tonali. We were holding out for big money. Is it possible we could have got £30m/£40m plus a pair of players who would have solved two of our positional requirements? Tottenham clearly value the duo at more than £60m/£70m combined but we were negotiating from a position of strength. They were desperate for Tonali and considered both their players as surplus to requirements.
Disregarding Spence, as there hasn’t been an indication we were interested in him, I found it bizarre that we didn’t push for Bergvall as part of that deal. I’ve liked him whenever I’ve watched him and think he would have been a superb addition. Although he’s the same age as three of our summer signings, he’s already made 78 appearances for Spurs. Sure 50 of those were in two poor league campaigns but he also played 12 times in their successful Europa League campaign and another 7 times in the Champions League last year. He’s been capped 14 times by Sweden too, so he’s clearly got something about him.
To sell Tonali and then according to media reports going straight back to Spurs offering £46m for Bergvall, felt naïve. They were hardly going to say yes after being pushed to shell out more than double that on one of our players. We’d sacrificed our stronghold, come down the hill and knelt before them. We could hardly expect them to be doing us any favours.
Had Ross Wilson worked the magic that he did when robbing us of Anderson, I think we could have negotiated a value of far less than the £46m we later allegedly offered for Bergvall. I don’t think it’s insane to consider something like £70m plus Bergvall as something Spurs may have considered whilst we sat behind our high walls with the gates barred.
There is some good value to be had in the Premier League. Not much of it, but it’s there. Maybe it wouldn’t be for us, maybe clubs would try and extort more. But they must have cottoned on by now we can’t really afford the Newcastle United tax we got hit with so many times in the past.
What we need to learn from last season is not to overpay on Premier League players and not to panic buy. I think we should still be targeting a mix of young European talent along with well-priced but capable Premier League players.
We’re seemingly close to wrapping up Amar Dedic. I can’t say I know anything about him and he may be brilliant.
But will Tino be fit for our huge games at the start of the season? I’d much rather someone who’s been doing it week in week out against the likes of Liverpool, Spurs and others of their calibre. I would have gone all out for Spence, especially, but would have taken Wan Bissaka happily. Obviously, Champions League teams have come in for both now, but I think either could have been a possibility had we looked at them straight after the season, before the World Cup started.
We need at least three signings before this window closes but possibly even more. I would not be averse to a few older players with Premier League experience under their belts.
We missed out on Joao Gomes, but I’d be looking at his compatriot and former teammate Andre. He’s a capped Brazilian who plays the number 6 role, snaps about the pitch and retains possession effectively. He only turned 25 last month so he’d offer us both Premier League experience and sell on value. We don’t know how quickly Bamba will adapt. Miley can play in the 6, assuming he stays fit, and I’d like to see him get as much exposure as possible this season. But it wouldn’t hurt to have an experienced player that can fulfil that role too. Andre would be ideal.
We’re currently linked with Joao Palhinha, and I’d be more than happy for him to come in. If Willock ends up leaving, we could still need another midfielder on top of the Bayern Munch man.
I had a look at which players are out of contract and there are still options even in that market. Yves Bissouma has more than 200 Premier League appearances and only turns 30 in a couple of weeks. Fabinho is 32, I thought he was at least 35! Could he still do a job and provide some leadership for a season or two?
Jadon Sancho has been disappointing since moving back to English football but is just 26. Could we help him find that form that made him one of Europe’s most feared young wingers at Borussia Dortmund?
Oleksander Zinchenko has spent most of his career at two top Premier League teams, even if he was often back up. At 29, could he be the natural left back we need as cover for Hall?
Some of these players may be holding out for insane wages, which could be why they haven’t got new homes yet and I’m not saying to sign players for the sake of it. But if the right deal could be arranged for one or two of them, I think three of those four could add some control and dependability. Sancho is more of a wildcard.
I think we need to add at least one midfielder in the, dare I say it, Xhaka role. Someone who can come in, lead by example, calm everyone down and help the youngsters develop. Our two most experienced central midfielders now are the erratic (and possibly departing) Joe Willock and the boisterous Joelinton. We need a calming presence in there.
Interestingly…Wijnaldum, Mbabu, Fraser, Lascelles and the mighty Joselu are all available on frees too. Not that I’d suggest we go for any of those.
I expect it to be a busy fortnight on the transfer front. With only 19 senior players on the books (and likely less from our current roster by the end of the month) it wouldn’t hurt to be filling some of those spots with proper experience.
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