The Steve McClaren era at St. James’ Park has got off to an exciting start on the transfer front with a swoop for Dutch footballer of the Year Georginio Wijnaldum.
A fee north of £10M has been agreed, heralding a scene-change in Newcastle’s recent transfer policy which backs up the words of owner Mike Ashley in his only ever interview for the club promising to “bolt the horse (of a top team) onto the cart (of financial stability).”
Wijnaldum in very well known on the world scene — latching onto a Daryl Janmaat cross to score against Brazil to secure World Cup bronze for Holland in 2014 is the career highlight to date of Newcastle’s new man and he is destined to be a Premier League star on Tyneside.
He’s fast, ferocious and direct. The 23-year-old Dutch attacking midfielder knows where the goal is and will add some much needed urgency to the Newcastle forward line. The Magpies have paid in the region of £14M for his services from Eredivisie Champions PSV, for whom Wijnaldum scored nine League goals and four more in the Cups in 37 games last season as he lit up the Dutch top flight.
He is related to fellow Holland international Royston Drenthe, joins an increasing Netherlands contingent at St. James’ Park which includes long-serving keeper Tim Krul, Siem De Jong and Vurnon Anita plus Daryl Janmaat. Many of his 19 Holland caps and three goals were under his World Cup manager, Manchester United boss Louis Van Gaal, who rates him and was considering bringing him to Old Trafford before opting for Memphis Depay. Newcastle beat off rivals Sunderland for his signature and a host of European clubs, thought to include Juventus and Valencia, as The Magpies splashed the cash and quickly agreed personal terms on a five-year deal.
New Magpies manager Steve McClaren told Newcastle supporters at The Fans’ Forum he attended at St James’ Park earlier in the week that exciting signings were close. He asked the fans to remain patient due to naturally high competition for the quality of the club’s targets:
“We’re close. We are working very hard behind the scenes.
“When you buy players for up to £5m, there are loads of them and in that respect, Newcastle would be top of the tree. When it’s £5-10m, there are still a lot of them and we would be right up there competing with that group – and there are a lot of players in that group.
“When you go above that and look for a calibre of player to improve what we’ve got and to achieve our objectives – which we know, and thank goodness we know them – that makes a huge difference.
“The objectives have been set and we have to fulfil them, and that’s what we are doing, so when you go £10m-plus – and there is a lot of speculation about that level of player at the moment – they are Europa League and Champions League players at top clubs.
“There aren’t so many players in that bracket, so the competition is higher. It is more difficult to recognise their availability and get things done.”
Wijnaldum has been unveiled at Newcastle before the club jet off to the United States for their American tour and Aleksandar Mitrovic may follow soon will provide a big boost of positivity injected into the Toon’s international fan base with more to follow as an increasingly exciting new season for Geordie fans approaches.
