Newcastle United’s summer transfer window has been an unmitigated disaster, no matter how you slice it.
Other than Malick Thiaw, could you really call any of Newcastle’s six summer signings a success this season? It’s unlikely.
Each player has had their moment where they’ve given us a glimpse of where our £250 million went last year, but only the German defender has done that on a consistent basis.
We are only now starting to see why Eddie Howe chased Anthony Elanga for so long. Aaron Ramsdale has taken over from Nick Pope as first-choice goalkeeper for now, but that was more down to Pope literally dropping the ball than Ramsdale pushing for the place.
The less said about our new £124 million strike force, the better, which just leaves Jacob Ramsey, who, after a slow start which included an injury, is starting to show his worth.
Former Newcastle midfielder Rob Lee has hinted on the Adopted Geordies podcast that it’s a case of too little too late for Jacob Ramsey this season.
Perhaps a harsh assessment, as he’s been consistent for a few months now and one of our better summer signings, but Lee seems frustrated that we’ve only seen him step up in recent months.
“Have the new players made us a better team? Have Elanga, Woltemade, Wissa, have they made it? Ramsey, have they made us a better team? No. So their signings so far are not successful signings.
“I mean, we know it’s been the last few games [Ramsey’s improvement], he’s been good, but don’t forget we’re in March and he was £40million, so we expect him to be at least where he is.
“I do, because he looks like a blumin good player. And we haven’t seen that, maybe we haven’t seen it because our midfield is the strongest department.”
It did seem to take a while for Ramsey to get up to speed, but as Rob Lee hinted at there, it has been hard for him to break into the first team when Eddie Howe has had his first-choice players fit.
Getting in the team ahead of Joelinton, Bruno Guimaraes, and Sandro Tonali is a challenge in itself, but then you’ve got to hit the ground running and slot into the space seamlessly.
It would have been great had Ramsey been able to do that from game week one, but with so little time to train with the team, we’re not entirely shocked it has taken longer than we’d have liked for him to get up to the level he’s now at.