Newcastle United made a real statement of intent by signing Kieran Trippier from Atletico Madrid and Bruno Guimaraes from Olympique Lyonnais in January, but Frank McAvennie says this is only the beginning. He predicts the Magpies will bring in more big names over the summer, potentially overlooking lesser-fancied English players for continental options with a reputation.
McAvennie told Football Insider: “I’m interested to see what they do in the summer. Some big, big players are going to come in. There isn’t much of a squad there, as we saw against Everton, so they need to strengthen their options.
“But they aren’t just going to sign average players to beef out the squad, they will be top, top players. I think Newcastle can fly up the table towards Europe next season because that squad will be so different. I think we will see more signings like Bruno Guimaraes instead of Dan Burn.
“Not to say Burn has been bad, he’s been brilliant. But Newcastle will go for superstars now they are safe. If they get four or five of them, which will probably happen, who knows what they can do next season.” McAvennie’s claim might be bad news for Matt Targett and Chris Wood.
Targett has impressed on loan from Aston Villa and Newcastle are interested in turning the move permanent, but the 26-year-old might be overlooked for Ajax’s Nicolas Tagliafico, AC Milan’s Theo Hernandez or Borussia Dortmund’s Raphael Guerreiro.
And with Wood scoring just one goal in 10 games while turning 31 later this year, it’s hard to see him leading the line next season. Newcastle have been linked with Chelsea’s Timo Werner, Inter Milan’s Edin Dzeko, Benfica’s Darwin Nunez and Bayer Leverkusen’s Patrik Schick, so a foreign option might be preferred over Wood if McAvennie is correct.
The Magpies will need a prolific striker to fire them into a European place next season and the 6ft 3in Wood doesn’t appear to be the player to do it.
In other news, Paddy Kenny is ‘certain’ Newcastle will sign Chelsea player
