With just two weeks and two pre-season friendlies to go until the start of their Premier League season, Eddie Howe faces quite a dilemma.
Does his Newcastle United squad simply have enough players to compete in as many competitions as possible?
Having lost the likes of Sean Longstaff and Callum Wilson, and Alexander Isak still a ‘maybe’ on if he’ll actually be here on the 16th of August, it’s somehow a weaker squad compared to what we had on the opening weekend of last season.
So Howe and the recruitment team intend to be very busy in the next fortnight, with some big additions planned…
According to the i’s Mark Douglas, we plan on signing at least one new striker, right-sided centre-back, and midfielder before the opening day against Aston Villa.
The club views the next week as a ‘Moving week’ in particular for the hunt of a new striker, as talks continue with both Benjamin Sesko and Yoane Wissa.
There continues to be quiet whispers about Atalanta star Giorgio Scalvini, as well as fresh reports that we’re once again interested in singing Marc Guehi.
But the pursuit of a new midfielder is a particularly interesting one, as Douglas directly names a Championship star as one we’re keeping tabs on.
“It is understood further checks have been carried out on Coventry City’s Jack Rudoni as a possible Sean Longstaff replacement.”
It would be a big jump for the 24-year-old to fill the shoes of Longstaff now he’s at Leeds United, but he’s certainly more than capable of developing into a top midfielder under Howe.
Hypothetically, if any Newcastle fan was told at the beginning of the window that they’d brought in five new players over the summer, they’d have been ecstatic.
However, with the benefit of hindsight, that still might not be enough for Howe to satisfy he and the team’s desire to go far in as many competitions as possible this season.
The Premier League and Champions League XI picks itself, but a criminal lack of quality and depth beyond the starting XI could soon prove to be as big an issue as it was back in the 2023/24 campaign.
To at least salvage something from this current window, three new additions should be seen as an absolute minimum. And should Alexander Isak depart this month, then you could argue we need at least three forwards alone to match his goalscoring output.