Newcastle United are contemplating making a January move with the transfer window set to open this month – and a shortlist of players have been identified.
Ross Wilson is preparing for his first transfer window as Newcastle United sporting director and has confirmed that there is money for the club to spend.
Eddie Howe and Ross Wilson will make key decisions for Newcastle United in the January transfer window. | Getty Images
The Magpies spent a record £250million on new players in the summer while also receiving a record £160million in player sales, propped up by the Premier League record £130million exit of Alexander Isak to Liverpool.
But the significant transfer outlay has not produced consistent results on the pitch with Newcastle sitting 11th in the Premier League table at Christmas. In contrast, United have progressed to the Carabao Cup semi-final and are set to progress out of the Champions League group phase.
Mounting injury issues in defence and expiring contracts could see Newcastle make a move in the January transfer window for the first time since the arrival of Anthony Gordon from Everton almost three years ago.
Ross Wilson looks ahead to January transfer window
Newcastle are eyeing potential targets for January and beyond, while exits also haven’t been ruled out.
“The scouting work is always ongoing,” Wilson explained. “So, the guys are doing loads of work with that all the time. Can we spend in January? Yes. If we want to, we can.
“I think it’s fairly obvious to everybody given the level of club spend in the summer that we’re not going to do that again in the winter window as well, for a variety of reasons. But if we want to spend, we can.
“Of course, we’ll be creative, of course we’ll be opportunistic as well. But probably the most important thing is that it would have to align with what the summer plan looks like, which is the bigger squad plan. All of those conversations are ongoing.
“We’ll have the ones about where Eddie sees the need in the squad, if at all. But for now, the conversations have been, ‘What have we got, what do we think about what we’ve got, where do we see this’, then let’s see how that fits into January and the next part of the conversation.”
Newcastle United five-man transfer shortlist
Looking ahead to January, Newcastle have scouted several young players on the continent.
AZ Alkmaar’s Kees Smit is admired by The Magpies as well as several other top teams across Europe. But the 19-year-old is likely to stay in the Netherlands this January before making a decision on his future in the summer.
Mail Online have also linked Newcastle with Auxerre’s Kevin Danois (21), Feyenoord’s Luciano Valente (22) and AS Monaco’s Lamine Camara (21) as midfield options being scouted. Toulouse’s 19-year-old defender Dayann Methalie is also well regarded, given his versatility to play at both left-back and centre-back and making an impact in Ligue 1.
But Newcastle’s list of targets shows a clear theme heading into the January transfer window. The club are looking at young players, particularly midfielders from abroad, ones that represent high potential and return on investment as the club battles PSR restrictions.
Newcastle United transfer policy
Newcastle’s summer transfer window without a sporting director in place saw the club spend significant sums of money on already established Premier League players.
Anthony Elanga, Yoane Wissa and Jacob Ramsey joined from Nottingham Forest, Brentford and Aston Villa respectively for a combined fee of around £150million. For different reasons, all three players are yet to really make an impact on Tyneside.
Meanwhile, Newcastle’s two foreign imports in Malick Thiaw and Nick Woltemade, have been the club’s two success stories of the summer window.
The club have also historically benefited from bringing the likes of Bruno Guimaraes, Sven Botman, Alexander Isak and Sandro Tonali to the Premier League from abroad.
While Newcastle’s former sporting director Paul Mitchell, questioned if the club’s recruitment policy was ‘fit for purpose’ after narrowly avoiding a points deduction, new recruit Wilson has been more measured with his approach.
But his transfer strategy to pay greater attention to the foreign markets is clear.
“Moving forward, we definitely want to expand our recruitment network,” Wilson said. “We’ve already done that, to be honest, in my time here.
“We’ve already expanded the recruitment network. We’ll continue to do so as we move forward. I think it’s also clear that we feel that it’s highly likely, not always, but highly likely that there’ll be more value outside of the Premier League than there is in it.
“It’s not always the case, but I think it would be a fair assumption to say that’s something we’ll be looking into.”
Historically, Newcastle head coach Eddie Howe has shown an understandable preference for signing proven Premier League players over players from abroad, given his greater knowledge of the domestic market.
But given the success of Newcastle’s foreign imports and the growing pressures of financial rules, Howe is more open to exploring the greater value to be found on the continent.
“I think that is something that is very, very wise from Ross,” Howe said on his sporting director’s transfer strategy. “We have tried to utilise the foreign market without probably having the expertise in previous seasons that we need to make consistently good decisions in those markets.
“I think the foreign players we have signed from other leagues have done really well so that is certainly a route and an avenue that I would back and one I would support but, of course, you need the network, you need the people in the right places to help that process.
“I think Ross will give us all of that. I think he will use his vast experience and build up his team and his method of work.
“He has certainly made a really impressive start here and not having a sporting director last summer was hugely detrimental to what we were trying to do so to have all those positions now filled is a huge relief.”