If you’re a Newcastle fan, you already know how bad things look. Bruno Guimaraes has gone to Arsenal. Sandro Tonali’s at Spurs. Anthony Gordon packed his bags for Barcelona. Eddie Howe got sick of it all and walked, and the club’s answer was to bring in Matthias Jaissle with barely a month until the season kicks off. The midfield that made Newcastle exciting under Saudi ownership? Gone. And what’s arrived so far doesn’t come close to filling the hole.
To make matters worse, the opening fixture is Liverpool at St James’ Park on 23 August. That’s about as brutal a start as you can get for a new manager working with a squad that’s still half-built. There are massive questions hanging over this team right now, and they go well beyond any single transfer. We’ll get into the specific types of player Newcastle need, who they’ve been after, and whether any of it can realistically come together before the whistle blows.
What Newcastle Have Lost
Let’s talk numbers first. Bruno Guimaraes went to Arsenal for £75m. Tonali left for Spurs at around £100m. Gordon fetched £69m from Barcelona. That’s roughly £244m worth of talent out the door, and these weren’t depth options or rotation players. Bruno was the captain and the engine of everything good in midfield. Tonali had a way of carrying the ball and covering ground that nobody else in the squad could replicate. Gordon was the main creative threat on the left.
So what’s actually left in midfield? Joelinton (who might leave too, by the way), Joe Willock, Jacob Ramsey, and Lewis Miley. You’re looking at a mix of injury-prone, inconsistent, and very young. The two summer signings, Sean Steur from Ajax and Aladji Bamba from Monaco, are both under 21. They’re both still very young. Bamba cost £35m, so Newcastle clearly rate him highly, but nobody expects either player to walk into the Premier League and control a midfield from day one.
The Profiles Jaissle Needs
Jaissle likes a 4-2-3-1. At Salzburg and Al-Ahli, he built teams that pressed hard and relied on a double pivot to shield the defence and break quickly. For that to work at Newcastle, he’ll need at least two very different types of midfielder.
The first is a destroyer. Someone who parks themselves in front of the back four, wins the ball back, and keeps possession ticking. Bruno actually did a lot of this despite being more of an all-rounder. The second is a ball carrier or creative passer, someone who can drive play forwards and connect the midfield to the attackers. That was Tonali’s job, and he did it brilliantly.
As things stand, Bamba and Willock played the double pivot in a pre-season friendly against Valencia. By all accounts, it was poor. That’s a worry when Liverpool are less than two weeks away.
Who They’ve Been Chasing
Newcastle’s transfer window has been one missed target after another. Victor Munoz chose Liverpool. Johan Manzambi picked Aston Villa. And in probably the most annoying development of the lot, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg turned them down flat after the club had already agreed a fee with Marseille.
Hojbjerg would’ve been a decent pickup. He knows the Premier League inside out from his time at Southampton and Spurs, and he’s a natural organiser in defensive midfield. Jaissle reportedly wanted him as the anchor for his new system. But the Dane wasn’t interested, and now Newcastle are left chasing alternatives with the clock running down.
Next on the list is Joao Palhinha. The Bayern Munich midfielder spent last season on loan at Tottenham and was one of the best ball-winners in the league. He’d be an ideal destroyer signing. The catch? Palhinha has already agreed personal terms with Aston Villa and told Bayern Munich he wants that move, per Fabrizio Romano. Newcastle have spoken to his camp but are behind Villa in this race, and it’ll take more than money to change his mind at this stage.
There’s also Angelo Stiller from Stuttgart, who has been contacted according to the Daily Mail. He’s more of a deep-lying playmaker than an out-and-out defensive midfielder. And more recently, Teun Koopmeiners at Juventus has come up as an option. The Dutchman is 28 and hasn’t really hit his stride since leaving Atalanta, but he’s got quality and top-level experience. The concern is that he’s never played in England, and players moving from Serie A to the Premier League don’t always adapt well.
Luka Sucic at Real Sociedad is another name floating around. He worked under Jaissle at Salzburg, which could help speed things up, but there’s nothing to suggest talks have gone anywhere yet.
Odds and a Very Unpredictable August
The window doesn’t close until 1 September, so there’s still time. But it doesn’t feel like nearly enough. Newcastle need at least one experienced midfielder before the Liverpool match, probably two. Jaissle has been in the job for about a week. He’s still learning who can do what, and the transfer plan seems to change every couple of days as one target after another slips away.
If you’re someone who likes a bet on the Premier League, this is one of those years where it’s genuinely impossible to know where Newcastle will finish. They could land a couple of late signings and look respectable by October, or they could stumble into a relegation battle if the midfield stays this thin.
Anyone looking at the outright markets would be wise to compare football betting offers and hold off on putting real money down until things get clearer. There are just too many unknowns right now for anyone to predict what this squad will look like on matchday one.
Two Weeks That Will Shape the Season
This midfield rebuild isn’t some nice-to-have project for Newcastle. It’s very much urgent. The players who left this summer were the core of the team, and like-for-like replacements at a lower level won’t cut it. Jaissle will bring his own ideas and energy, but no amount of coaching can cover for a squad that simply doesn’t have the right bodies in the middle of the park.
If Palhinha, Koopmeiners, or someone at that level signs, there’s reason to be cautiously positive. If Newcastle go into the Liverpool match with Bamba and Willock as the starting pivot, it’s going to be a very long season. The next two weeks will tell us everything.
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