Now we are seeing exactly what Eddie Howe in charge of Newcastle United transfers looks like

After he arrived at St James’ Park, Paul Mitchell said what needed saying about the Newcastle United transfer strategy: “Is it fit for purpose? Not last winter gone, the winter before that… other clubs that have adopted a different approach, with more intelligence, more data-informed than we are, actually prospered.”

Newcastle United have just spent over £240 million this summer and haven’t improved our starting eleven or even our rotation options.

Jacob Ramsey is 6th choice, behind Joe Willock, Anthony Elanga offers nothing, and we somehow thought Dan Burn could cover left-back, despite him looking lost in that position two seasons ago. And he hasn’t got any faster since then!

Dan Ashworth and Paul Mitchell agreed on one thing: you build a club by finding talent before everyone else does, not by panic buying Premier League players at inflated prices.

Paul Mitchell put it bluntly: “You can’t just capital fund everything every year and buy loads of players at peak age and peak price.”

Both had five-year visions. Scouting globally, buy low, sell high. Like Yankuba Minteh. Signed from Denmark for £6.5 million as an unheard of, now worth £60 million.

The Eddie Howe vision?

Same as all managers. Win the next game. Stay in a job. Get trophies now. Sign players he knows—which basically means players from the Premier League who’ve performed well against us.

To be successful, you need a balance of both near-term and long-term approaches.

There have been media claims that Dan Ashworth found Eddie Howe frustrating because Eddie preferred working with his inner circle of coaches, rather than collaborating with his sporting directors.

My suspicion?

Eddie Howe made conditions frosty, pushing both of them out. Then used the cup win to take full control of transfers, which in fairness you could say he’d earned.

So we handed him roughly £240+ million. And now we’re seeing exactly what Eddie Howe in charge of transfers looks like. Our first eleven? Isak replaced by Woltemade. Thiaw for Schar.

Let’s start with Jacob Ramsey.

He looked like a future England star three years ago when he destroyed us in front of a watching Eddie Howe, then came a year out with injuries. Since coming back? One goal, five assists last season, bit-part Villa player. He’s clearly not the same player. He had two years left on his deal, refused a new contract, had no other bidders, and Villa had to sell due to PSR. Villa fans were hoping for £30 million, expecting less. We paid £43 million. This was meant to be us doing what Forest did to us with Anderson, capitalising on a team in dire straights due to PSR. Except we offered way over fair value.

Meanwhile, Chelsea got Estevao—an 18-year-old Brazilian international, already playing for the national team, no injury history, being compared to Messi—for about £29 million rising to £50-odd million. Why is a crocked former England B player who looks a shadow of his former self worth more than one of the world’s best teenagers? Isn’t this what Ashworth and Mitchell were saying?

Anthony Elanga thrived at Forest because Nuno played counter-attacking football. He didn’t have to defend or press, just use his pace on the break. We play a high press and face low blocks often. He looks completely unsuited to our system. £55 million. At least this was fair value so we should get most of that back.

Yoane Wissa turned 29, three days after signing. He’s had one great goalscoring season. History tells us strikers who aren’t genuinely elite start dropping down the leagues past 30. In two years, he’ll be 31, and likely worthless, counting down a five-year deal.

Our squad is amongst the oldest in the league. Over the next two seasons, we will need to replace Pope, Ramsdale (only on loan), Trippier, Krafth, Schar, Burn, Joelinton, Murphy, Willock, Wissa, Barnes. It won’t be cheap, especially as most will leave on frees. Can we even afford to replace 11 players? So what did we do? Spend £55 million on another ageing player instead of solving the problem.

And here’s another thing—remember when Forest beat us 3-1? Burn helped Elanga look like prime Messi. Then Ramsey put in a worldie when Villa thumped us in Eddie’s first season. Wissa scored two and won a penalty against us last season. Thiaw impressed in our Champions League tie with Milan. See the pattern? These are players Eddie Howe has personally watched tear us apart. That’s his scouting network—Premier League fixtures and European nights.

Mitchell and Ashworth would have had heart attacks over these deals. Elanga for £55m? Vetoed. Wissa at 29? Absolutely not. Ramsey after that injury and subsequent poor season? Never. This is exactly what they warned against. This is why clubs have Directors of Football. To balance the manager’s myopic view.

Eddie’s love of experience isn’t just showing up in who we buy. Last season, we had to sell to meet PSR. So we sold Minteh (£33m) and Anderson (£15m plus Vlachodimos). That’s £48 million in panic sales largely caused by buying Barnes to play second fiddle to Gordon when we didn’t have the money.

Minteh never even got a chance to show his skills in pre-season after an astounding season for Feyenoord. Anderson was our academy lad. For years, we have promised we’d never miss out on another Shearer or Carrick.

IMAGO/NurPhoto

But as many fans said at the time, Eddie Howe doesn’t seem to rate (or trust) him. The exact same words now being said about Osula.

Eddie Howe had other options. Longstaff could’ve got £15-20m. Barnes was a pricey squad player, a no brainer in my eyes. Willock £15m. Gordon £80-100m. Eddie reportedly didn’t want to sell anyone. But as Mitchell said, every club has to sell—even Liverpool. But when pushed he chose the youths.

If we’d kept them, we wouldn’t have needed to waste £100m on Elanga and Ramsey. Two signings that already look like they need replacing.

What about the future? Barnes is 27 with two years left on his contract. Keep him warming the bench for Gordon and he’s worth zero at 29. Then we need to replace him with no money coming in.

Joelinton is 29, same age as Wissa. And while midfielders usually last a lot longer than strikers, Big Joe’s levels have dropped off a cliff this season. Already being matched by Miley—one getting better every week, the other declining. Will we cash in and get someone to push Bruno in a couple of years? Or will we keep him because he’s part of the “family”?

The family ethos is one of our biggest strengths. I get it. But it can’t excuse terrible transfer decisions. Other clubs balance unity with ruthless asset management. We need to learn how.

Paul Mitchell was right. Our transfer strategy isn’t fit for purpose. Eddie Howe is a brilliant coach but he’s not a sporting director. Giving him £240+ million was a costly experiment. Ashworth and Mitchell understood you have to think five years ahead, not just until Saturday.