After a few seasons of incredible highs under Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe, it has predictably gone a little bit pear shaped in the 2025/26 campaign.
Having lifted the League Cup back in the 2024/25 campaign, we also gained Champions League football with a narrow fifth place finish in the domestic Premier League table and few using Bet442 ahead of the season would have seen that coming. But everyone knew that the current campaign would be a difficult one to navigate given our element of over performance last year with so few draws, and the added complications surrounding CL involvement with the extra fixtures and the travelling on top.
Obviously our financial position as it relates to the status quo protective Profit and Sustainability Rules would also massively come into play here when it came to strengthening the squad sufficiently to cover injury and fatigue, so seeing us fall off the pace somewhat is no great surprise – but by the same token the campaign has been far from a disaster.
We are sat in 12th place in the top flight table having picked up 42 points so far from the opening 31 games, and the reality is our form and results are not that different from last year and far greater consistency now until the end of the campaign could see a very late run for the European places once again as we are only six points behind Chelsea.
Naturally the recent defeat to Sunderland colours emotions and it is no surprise to see the gaffer’s more immediate future back in the headlines but we should be looking forward.
Given the revenue boost that we will have taken from our Champions League run to the Last 16 stage where (in fairness, we were heavily beaten by La Liga giants Barcelona), we will have additional wriggle room in the summer transfer window, and the speculation rumour mill is linking us with having an interest in the right sorts of players.
One of the more interesting suggestions as we go into the weekend is versatile full back Marco Palestra. The 21-year-old Atalanta player is currently on loan out with Cagliari to boost his experience further, but his highly rated potential has already been noted with two caps for the senior Italian side.
It is believed that a number of clubs are tracking him this summer with the usual suspects like Liverpool and Juventus mentioned, but with us knowing that skipper Kieran Trippier is now moving on, whilst Palestra is a natural right back, he provides options and can also play on the left.
Talk of a 40/45 million Euro valuation appear to be on the high side given his game time so far, but it is widely reported that we have sent scouts to track him properly in recent months ahead of making a decision. Making the claims a little bit more believable is the fact that when you get past the headline clubs who work well on search engines, and the almost obligatory mention of Tottenham Hotspur for some reason, the remainder are better placed to have a genuine reason with a history of such captures, and we have not done too badly down the years when it comes to picking up players from abroad have we.
As it stands Atalanta are apparently unwilling sellers, but this could be one to remember for the off season.
