· December 10 2024, 14:00
If you were hoping, as a Newcastle United fan, that January's transfer window will be where the club makes up for the mistakes of the summer, then we have bad news for you.
Newcastle fans were left fuming in the summer as the club stumbled its way through the summer transfer window and coming out of it without signing a single player who instantly improved the team.
What makes things worse is that it was the second transfer window in a row in which the first-team squad wasn't measurably strengthened and it's really starting to show now.
Newcastle have struggled this season and sit 12th in the Premier League after 15 games. So surely, Newcastle will use that money they had sidelined for Marc Guehi in January to make some improvements, right? Right?
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Miguel Almiron Newcastle United Brighton
Miguel Almiron looks set to move on in January
Newcastle United sources have tried to lower expectations ahead of January
The club have already sent Eddie Howe to face the press to temper expectations and downplay the idea that they actually had that money for Guehi, and journalists have often questioned what business can be done in January.
Now, Graeme Bailey has told Geordie Boot Boys that we shouldn't expect any meaningful incoming business without sales first with Miguel Almiron being named as a potential exit.
“From what Newcastle are briefing, it does not seem like they will be able to do anything in January without at least one player like Almiron going.
“The fact that Eddie Howe keeps talking about January possibly being a struggle – it feels like he is doing that for a reason as he knows what is coming.
“It does not sound overly positive.”
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Newcastle need to lower their expectations when it comes to Almiron's value
The club still seems to think they can pick up some meaningful amount for Almiron, which is crazy to us. He's proved to be harder to shift than that tattoo of your ex's name. Between the player refusing to move and the club sticking with an unrealistic value, he seems to be stuck at Newcastle.
If the club accept reality and take a lower fee he may well move on in January, but then he's hardly going to unlock much in the way of funds to bring in a replacement of the quality we need.
Is there a way to just wave a white flag and bow out of this season? I'm not sure I can watch the rest of it unfold the way things are looking. When the noises coming out of the club aren't positive it's hard to see that light at the end of the tunnel.