It’s been a chastening transfer window for Newcastle United and the richest owners in football, as Benjamin Sesko joins an illustrious list of players who’ve turned down a move to St James’ Park, but with three weeks still go there’s still chance to turn things around and Eddie Howe can start by stealing a key target of one of the Magpies’ biggest tormentors this summer.
While their neighbours down the coast have completely overhauled their squad and appear the best-prepared promoted side to survive in the Premier League since Nottingham Forest three years ago years ago – certainly amongst playoff winners – the Magpies have spent just £52 million, making them the seventh-most miserly team in the division.
Newcastle’s owners have genuinely invested almost as much in Chelsea and more in Liverpool than they have in their own Premier League club this summer through bringing Joao Felix and Darwin Nunez to state-owned Saudi Pro League clubs for vastly inflated fees, with Elanga Newcastle’s only permanent signing for a fee this summer.
Albatross Aaron Ramsdale on loan and free teenager Antonito Cordero – who will spend the season at KVC Westerlo – are Newcastle’s only other additions to a squad not significantly deeper than the last time they entered the Champions League and were ravaged by injuries, slumping to seventh in the division and bottom of their European group.
Of course, it’s not for the want of trying. Eddie Howe has been told no more times this summer than Jamal Khashoggi pleading in vain for his life in the Saudi Arabian embassy in 2018, as Liam Delap, Joao Pedro, Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha, Hugo Ekitike and James Trafford have all moved elsewhere in the Premier League.
However, as the big six’s spending begins to slow with many of the big names available at the start of the window already rehomed, Newcastle still have time to strike and rescue the summer – and there’s no better place to start than by hijacking Chelsea’s bid to sign Xavi Simons from RB Leipzig.
Simons can transform Newcastle attack england fans will need no reminder of how deadly Simons can be even from the most innocuous of situations after he gave the nation a heart attack last summer’s Euro 2024 semi-final.
It’s a goal that sums up a lot of what makes Simons so coveted – the foresight to see an opportunity to battle for the ball, the strength to outmuscle the much more imposing John Stones, the confidence and control to drive at the goal against a backpedalling defence and the foot like a traction engine to give Jordan Pickford no chance from outside the box.
Having completed his footballing education at La Masia, Simons’ IQ on the pitch (and maybe off it two, we’ve just never been in the same pub quiz as him) is second-to-none and his eye for a pass is matched only by his technical ability to play the perfect ball.
Simons’ 2.5 passes into the penalty area per game in the last year put him in the top 7% of similar players in Europe’s top five leagues per FBRef.com, level with Mohamed Salah, Bruno Fernandes and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s Premier League numbers and well ahead of any Newcastle player.
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