Continuing the “State of the Squad” series, we”ll give a look at our attacking midfielders and 3ingers, the lads who played mostly on the line of three, behind the striker in our most used formation, 4-2-3-1.
We started last season with huge hope in those positions. Big investments were made in Gini Wijnaldum and Florian Thauvin. We still had Moussa Sissoko and a healthy Siem de Jong. It was expected Rolando Aarons would finally have his breakout season and Gabriel Obertan was coming from his best appearances as a Newcastle player in the year before.
Disappointing Remy Cabella was sent back to France on a loan deal which would become permanent later in the season and Sammy Ameobi was sent to Cardiff City to get more playing time.
Unfortunately, the season started and the results weren’t good by any means. Thauvin struggled to adapt to the Premier League, Obertan, Aarons and de Jong kept picking up injuries. Despite a great start by Wijnaldum, it wasn’t enough. It was clear we needed something to be done and in mid-season transfer window, we allowed Thauvin to leave on loan and bought Andros Townsend, who was a really great addition. But even with him playing at his best, Sissoko finishing the season strong and Aarons finally back, it wasn’t enough to keep the Magpies in the Premier League.
After cleaning the house, terminating the contracts of Marveaux and Obertan, and already without Townsend and Wijnaldum sold to Crystal Palace and Liverpool respectively, let’s look at what we have right now and what we can expect going forward.
