Mike Ashley's wallet is open, Lee Charnley is alive after all, and Georginio Wijnaldum is Newcastle United's first signing of the summer.
You've seen the figures. At nearly £14.4 million, "Gini" is the third most expensive signing in the club's history, and thus the priciest purchase of the Ashley era.
Whether Wijnaldum turns out to be the statement signing the club apparently believes he is — the type that will encourage other players to join —remains to be seen. But his arrival would seem to suggest that maybe Ashley's lofty words during his out-of-nowhere pregame interview on the last day of the season might actually carry some legitimacy.
As far as a first signing goes, Wijnaldum wouldn't have been a popular guess at the start of the summer, simply because of his position. Newcastle already had options in the center of the midfield, particularly compared to the gaping holes at striker and center back.
But Newcastle has been missing an alpha dog type in the midfield since Yohan Cabaye left for Paris — Moussa Sissoko has never truly staked his claim — and United struggled to control games in the center of the field as last season wore on. And then there's this simple line of thinking: When you're bad — and Newcastle was horrific in the second half of last season — you just need to add good players.
It's not totally clear where Wijnaldum will fit into Steve McClaren's lineup, since he can operate as a No. 10, as a box-to-box type or out wide. But the smart money would seem to be on the 24-year-old Dutchman taking a central role in some permutation of a 4-1-4-1/4-2-3-1 look, with Siem de Jong in an attacking spot, Jack Colback sitting deep and Sissoko pushing out wide right. (I feel compelled here to reiterate that Sissoko, assuming he's not sold, should play wide. He's just not technically good enough — at least consistently — to play in the tight spaces that No. 10s or central midfielders find themselves in.)
Newcastle still has major work to do. Considering Fabricio Coloccini's decline, you could argue the club doesn't have a legitimate Premier-League-starting-caliber center back on the roster. Papiss Cisse is the closest thing McClaren has to a capable center forward (and he's a) a poacher who can't really hold up the ball and b) a serious candidate to be sold). And Newcastle could probably stand to add another option on the wing.
But in Wijnaldum, United will hope it has the man to tie the rest of those pieces — whenever they arrive — together.
Hey fellow Geordies!!
When and where are you playing in Milwaukee! I've got to come support you! Best, Debbie
Posted by: Deborah Ridley-Kern | 07/13/2015 at 11:55 AM
Totally agree re. Sissoko - his best spell for NUFC by far came in tandem with Debuchy on the right. That pre-Cabaye-to-PSG line-up was probably the best side of the Pardew era (top-notch on the road, though he never could figure out how to play at home)
Posted by: M | 07/13/2015 at 10:18 PM