Ian Wright has offered a scathing criticism of a pair of Newcastle United wingers – hinting at a lack of ambition by new owners.
When Eddie Howe was appointed by the Saudi-backed takeover, who arrived with huge plans for the club, Wright feels there is “no way” that the manager would have expected to still have certain players at the club three years on.
Player trading has undoubtedly been a problem for Toon in recent years, but the Arsenal legend has singled out Jacob Murphy and Miguel Almiron as two players who typify Newcastle’s limited growth.
Speaking on the Kelly and Wrighty show, the Match of the Day pundit said: “You look at where Newcastle are, there are certain players like [Jacob] Murphy and [Miguel] Almiron,”
“There’s no way when the new owners came in, how long is it since the new owners have been there? Three years on there are players who are still in and around that would be there.
“Nobody can tell me Eddie Howe wasn’t expecting more spending and more players.There’s no way three years on Newcastle thought this would be where they’d be. I don’t know where they are.”
I think it’s fair to say that many of the Geordie faithful, along with perhaps even Howe, would’ve hoped for more than right-wing options of Murphy and Almiron three years on from the takeover.
We know growth has been limited due to the financial rules we’re facing, but our failure to recruit down the right feels like a big mistake when it was the glaring weakness in our side last season.
Profit and Sustainability Rules without a shadow of a doubt killed Newcastle’s momentum in the transfer market, and made the assets already on the books with the club somewhat more of a liability on occasion.
Player trading is key to ease pressure and create space to manoeuvre in the world of PSR, but in order to move players on there must be a suitable party. If we must sell to buy, we must first sell and it has proved to become difficult to find suitors for underperforming players.
Not to say the club are faultless however, with right wing a key problem area to address and a mistake to not do so in the summer transfer window of 2024. Howe has also been accused of being overly loyal, and it’s hard to argue against it as Harvey Barnes struggles to get a regular run of starts.