After the Magpies’ poor start to the season, and the board’s apology to new manager John Carver for a lack of playing staff, an aggressive approach to the summer transfer market is needed to revitalise Newcastle United. Newcastle are set to bank tens of millions along with the rest of the Premier League thanks to the new TV deal and need to invest more than most to both guarantee continual Premier League survival and kick on up the table.
The Geordies are perennially top of the Premier League injury list and the only way to address the problem is to increase strength in depth in every position in the squad and create real competition for places. Goalkeeper Karl Darlow and Jamaal Lascelles, bought last summer, arrive from Nottingham Forest after their loan spells end, but much more than those two is needed.
The club are well off for central midfielders, although swapping Jordy Clasie for Vurnon Anita would be a great upgrade, but a new central defender and striker is much higher up on the agenda.
Strikers
Newcastle last broke their transfer record in 2005 when the club paid £16M for Michael Owen from Real Madrid. That was a decade ago and it’s high time a club known for its great goalscorers broke it again. Paying big money for a centre forward would be a statement of intent and also a vital necessity in an increasingly competitive Premier League.
Current number nine Papiss Cisse’s knee is in a bad state; Emmanuel Riviere is yet to break his Premier League duck; Ayoze Perez is best as a second striker and has impressed from wide areas, but the club needs a forward to lead the line.
Charlie Austin
Signing a Premier League-proven and ready English striker would be a massive step forward for Newcastle and Charlie Austin is the perfect fit for the club. The 6ft 2 in QPR striker has powered in fourteen goals in 23 games for a struggling side and can follow in the footsteps of Les Ferdinand, who swapped Loftus Road for St James’ Park to lead the line for Newcastle.
Fast, tough, good in the air and with a powerful shot reminiscent of Ferdinand or Alan Shearer, Austin is the goal machine Newcastle need.
While current QPR boss Chris Ramsey’s claim that Austin has had a better season than Harry Kane is up for debate, there is no doubting that Austin has lit up the Premier League this season. He possesses greater mental strength than Burnley’s Danny Ings, whose performance level dropped against Sunderland when he was linked to a move to Liverpool, and after a slow rise to prominence would be able to withstand the pressure of playing in front of 50,000 at Gallowgate.
At 25 and with 176 goals in 279 games under his belt, Austin deserves his shot at the big-time Newcastle should be aiming for.
The Defence
In central defence, Captain Fabricio Coloccini is 33 years old and Mike Williamson 31, so at least a replacement for both is required in summer. Steven Taylor, whose return to the side coincided with the club’s best form, is 29 yet injury prone due to his all-action style while Paul Dummett can do a job in the centre but is best played as a left-back. Jamaal Lascelles, a centre back whom Roy Hodgson has twice promoted to train with the full England squad, arrives in the summer from Nottingham Forest, but is yet to play in the Premier League.
Signing an established centre-back on top, one with Premier League experience, is required to give United a back-line an overhaul to cover all eventualities: the inevitable decline of Coloccini and Williamson due to their age plus injuries, suspensions and the extra games that the cup runs the club needs to start producing will bring.
Ashley Williams, Swansea City
Eschewing Newcastle’s age limit policy for vital experience, Swansea and Wales’ 30 year-old captain would be the perfect centre half for Newcastle. With 100 Premier League games under his belt, he is a top and consistent performer with the mentality to succeed at St James’ Park.
Constantly linked with Arsenal, they are yet to take a chance on him and he’s exactly the type of defensive leader Newcastle should be going for.
The X-Factor Entertainer – Alireza Jahanbakhsh
No Newcastle transfer window would be complete without plucking an amazing talent from relative obscurity in the same way Ayoze Perez this season signed from Tenerife in Spain’s Second Division.
Step forward Alireza Jahanbakhsh, a 21 year-old Iranian winger who plays in the Dutch Second Division with NEC and has fifteen caps for his country to date, scoring once. A tricky, two-footed goalscorer with pace to burn who can beat men at will, at 5ft 11in he has the physical capacity to survive in the hurly-burly of The Premier League. Managed at international level by Carlos Querioz, former Assistant Manager of Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford, Jahanbakhsh has reportedly caught the eye of Manchester United scouts.
Yet like Perez, who turned down Barcelona and Real Madrid to join The Magpies, Newcastle can offer him a proven easier route to first team football and he may well dazzle on the Premier League stage in black and white should Newcastle act quickly and bring him in.
