Newcastle’s activity in the transfer market has been a little more subtle than most expected after their takeover, but it does appear to be paying off as Eddie Howe is building a promising team.
That does make more sense than Man City’s approach of just throwing money at any old mercenary who would accept it until they finally cracked the top-four, but they may have to do something now that Jonjo Shelvey has been ruled out for at least 12 weeks:
Exclusive: Jonjo Shelvey set to miss first half of season after undergoing hamstring surgery. Midfielder expected to be out for 12 weeks into early November. Newcastle will now definitely keep Elliot Anderson at club rather than evaluate loan offers #nufc https://t.co/R9WgukSzQe
— Craig Hope (@CraigHope_DM) August 8, 2022
The 30-year-old would be a key player for the Magpies this season if he was fit, but you really can’t mess about with hamstring injuries or play through them so he’s going to miss a considerable amount of time after having surgery on it.
The whole world knows that Newcastle have the resources to go out and buy some cover or even find an upgrade on Shelvey, so it will be interesting to see if they try to do this or if Howe trusts his squad and would rather go with a “next man up” philosophy by giving someone else a chance to impress.
Man City doesn’t just go and get mercenaries. They sold more players for cash than they actually brought in and have a world-class academy that they keep dipping into (Palmer, Foden, McAtee, Delap, Wilson-Esbrand) and have won the league 4 out of 5 years with 2 of those not even with a recognized striker. Will your opinion be the same once Newcastle has the same amount of the champions league money and sponsor money that CIty has built over the last 10-12 years and call them mercenaries when they are throwing cash at the biggest players? They just can’t yet due to FFP.