The Newcastle United problem that can be solved with one of these two January transfer options
Newcastle are planning for their fifth transfer window under Eddie Howe in January
Newcastle United fans have already been treated to some memorable moments in the opening three months of the 2023/24 season. They opened the campaign with an emphatic 5-1 home victory over Aston Villa, fired in a staggering eight goals away at Sheffield United, knocked Manchester City out of the Carabao Cup and remarkably thrashed a PSG team 4-1 on their first home game back in the Champions League.
Newcastle fans have great reason to feel optimistic in the early stages of the season and although they sit eighth in the league table they can take great pride in their start after a tremendously testing run of fixtures. However, the international break has come as a blessing to Eddie Howe’s squad as they acclimatise to the gruelling nature of balancing European and domestic duties. Injuries to the likes of Sven Botman, Joelinton, Joe Willock and Harvey Barnes have all tested the team in the early stages of the season and the intensity of the fixtures is only going to increase in the coming weeks and months, particularly if Newcastle successful prevail from the so called ‘Group of Death’ in the Champions League.
The international break offers Howe and his scouting team the perfect opportunity to look at fine-tuning their team ahead of the January transfer window. With that in mind we assess the main areas that Newcastle needs to improve in the win
Eddie Howe is preparing for his fifth transfer window as Newcastle boss and he faces a very different challenge to the one that he first faced when he arrived in the dugout less than two years ago. Howe inherited a team that were struggling for confidence and marooned in a relegation battle – they conceded a record 80 goals in a calendar year in 2021 and had failed to win any of their opening 14 games.
Newcastle at that time needed Premier League experience and leadership and they got that just that in the form of Dan Burn, Kieran Trippier and Matt Targett, while star quality was added in the midfield in the form of Bruno Guimaraes. Phase two of Howe’s plan was to add further star quality and Sven Botman and Alexander Isak were the marquee signings along with an experienced shot stopper in Nick Pope.
The following two transfer windows have mainly cast an emphasis on youth and building for the future and the likes of Anthony Gordon, Tino Livramento, Lewis Hall and Sandro Tonali have all joined the ranks. Newcastle are now stacked with squad depth in most areas of the field but one area that seems short on quality squad depth is central defence.
