The Newcastle United side may have just returned to Benton this week after a fortnight’s rest, but the club has remained a beehive of industry in their absence.
For starters, Qatar’s top five players for the World Cup aren’t the club’s only representatives in the Middle East. Amanda Staveley, the co-owner, has been to the Gulf.
Meanwhile, Darren Eales, the CEO, has also travelled, with the Newcastle hierarchy seeking trade deals and negotiations over a shirt-front sponsor taking priority.
On Tyneside, meanwhile, transfer talks have intensified. A midfielder, a young right-back and a versatile striker are on Eddie Howe’s wishlist, although Newcastle are initially expected to be nowhere near as active as in the previous two windows .
James Maddison remains an interesting player, although Leicester City’s asking price means a mid-season deal is probably unworkable.
Marcus Thuram has been under long-term surveillance. Given that he is entering the last six months of his contract with Borussia Mönchengladbach, he has been mentioned internally.
A move for Harrison Ashby, the 21-year-old West Ham United defender, fell apart in September and could be revived, although other full-backs who could provide cover for Kieran Trippier have been watched.
Several senior signings look unlikely, although there is a budget to bring in top prospects in the Garang Kuol mould. Newcastle are tracking Vasco da Gama’s 18-year-old Brazilian midfielder Andrey Santos and Velez Sarsfield’s 19-year-old Argentina midfielder Maximo Perrone, among others.
The view inside the club is that Newcastle don’t need to make first-team ready additions unless the right players, at the right price, are available. That perspective hasn’t changed, despite finishing third in the Premier League. Newcastle won’t break with their current plan just to chase the Champions League this season, but are ready to make a move if their long-term goals prove achievable.
After eight wins and just one defeat in their first 15 top-flight matches, Newcastle players who were not on international duty had the opening week of the Premier League break to enjoy a holiday with their families. . For the next 10 days, they were then given individual diets to follow off the training ground, before returning to Benton on Wednesday, a few days after Howe.
The team flies to Saudi Arabia on Sunday for a week-long warm-weather training camp. Intensive sessions and team-building exercises are planned in Riyadh, the capital, although Newcastle also have bigger trading commitments than when they visit Jeddah in January.
The first of their friendlies will be against Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia, before a behind-closed-doors training game against Championship opposition once back in the UK. They then have a friendly against Rayo Vallecano at St James’ Park on December 17, four days before their season resumes with the Carabao Cup round of 16 tie against Bournemouth.
England’s Trippier, Callum Wilson and Nick Pope, along with Brazil’s Bruno Guimaraes, have reached the final stages of the World Cup – where they could be joined by Switzerland’s Fabian Schar, although the centre-back is yet to feature – but may, if their respective nations are knocked out, join the Newcastle squad across the border in Qatar or given some time off, depending on the individual case.
In Saudi Arabia, Alexander Isak will be gradually returned to full training after two months out with a thigh problem, in a bid to get the club-record signing ready for the domestic restart. Allan Saint-Maximin and Karl Darlow, who returned to the squad earlier this month, will be watched as they develop their fitness.
As well as formalizing transfer plans, Dan Ashworth, the sporting director, is reporting his findings to the Newcastle board, at their request, following his six-month club audit.
When he arrived at the end of May, Ashworth initially focused on the summer window, but from September he turned his attention to assessing the nine departments he oversees – including “security operations”. football”, which include liaison with players and the club secretary, an area he has not led in previous roles.
Over the coming months, proposed improvements will be introduced, and additional specialist staff will be sought across multiple departments, including within the academy, as player development is of paramount importance to Ashworth. Among the recruited staff is Paul Midgley, with Manchester City’s northern youth scout as head of youth recruitment.
That stand-alone position has not existed at Newcastle since July 2017, when Steve Nickson was promoted to ‘head of recruiting’ following the departure of Graham Carr as head scout. Nickson has overseen recruitment at all levels and, while he will remain involved across all age groups, his main focus should return to the first team, with Midgley specializing in scouting youth talent.
Off the pitch, Eales and Peter Silverstone, who joined as chief commercial officer in October, have been in talks over several sponsorship deals. Most important, however, is a shirt front sponsor to succeed Fun88 for next season.
Saudia, Saudi Arabia’s national flag carrier, has been announced as Newcastle’s ‘official airline partner’ for the trip to Riyadh, sparking speculation the company is adorning the shirts, having links to the Fund of Saudi Arabian Public Investment (PIF), which holds an 80% stake in the club.
Still, there have been talks with businesses in the UK and further afield – Staveley has visited other parts of the Middle East, and Eales has also been away from Tyneside – with the hierarchy confident that Newcastle’s lofty position in the league ensures a stronger bargaining position and, they hope, a deal of greater value.
With a new Women’s FA Cup attendance record of 28,565 set at St James’s last weekend when Becky Langley’s side triumphed 2-1 over Barnsley, club members believe Newcastle’s commercial potential remains untapped.
HOW WOMEN! 🙌
⚫️⚪️ pic.twitter.com/AB726NvILH
– Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) November 27, 2022
Newcastle may be going through a five-and-a-half-week spell without a competitive game, but the club have not been on a break. There has been meticulous planning at all levels, with the aim of giving Newcastle’s first team the best chance of resuming in the wealthy form in which they signed.
(Top photo: Stu Forster via Getty Images)