Newcastle United are good spenders. Never have the Magpies scattergunned their way through the transfer market since the PIF takeover and the arrival of Eddie Howe.
No one would deny Newcastle have been big spenders over the past four years, but then they are not the only Premier League side to have shown ambition, and they have demonstrated that desire to improve better, more effectively, than most.
This is why the Magpies have risen from relegation candidates to Champions League contenders, winning the Carabao Cup last season too after beating Liverpool in the final.
But their rise has been sustainable, with the nature of United’s development allowing them to hurdle over obstacles that spring up in their path.
Howe’s tactics and problem-solving skills are essential in this regard, but so too are the major signings on Tyneside, with Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali arguably the pick of the bunch.
Howe's best signings at Newcastle
Newcastle have welcomed a range of elite signings through the gates since the start of the PIF era, but midfielders Tonali and Guimaraes have combined – with the tough Joelinton – to create one of the meanest engine rooms across the continent.
Guimaraes was one of the first to join Howe’s Newcastle, arriving from Lyon in January 2022 for a £40m fee, while Tonali arrived from AC Milan in a £55m deal in July 2023, and he has established himself over the past year, having endured a difficult, disruptive maiden campaign in England.
Hailed for playing a “relentless” game by journalist Henry Winter, with “incredible stamina” and a completeness that suggests he is among the finest midfielders currently competing in Europe, Newcastle have hit the jackpot with Tonali.
Saying that, to say they have hit the jackpot is to say Newcastle’s success is down to chance. It is not. Here is an outfit with their wits about them, picking out an elite talent and then fashioning him into a superstar.
It was already achieved with Guimaraes, who captains the club and does so with such aplomb, ranked as he is among the top 9% of positional peers across Europe for progressive passes and the top 8% for shot-creating actions per 90, as per FBref.
A pass is considered progressive if the distance between the starting point and the next touch is at least 10 meters closer to the opponent’s goal or any completed pass into the penalty area.
And not only is Guimaraes among the most talented and commanding central midfielders in the Premier League, but his fitness level is of the highest class too.
25/26
5 (5)
1 (0)
24/25
38 (38)
5 (6)
23/24
37 (37)
7 (8)
22/23
32 (32)
4 (5)
21/22
17 (11)
5 (1)
Despite a tough summer transfer window, Newcastle have signed shrewdly, packaging Howe’s squad with more exciting talent. Indeed, there’s one signing made this year who has the potential to rival these stalwarts as he goes from strength to strength on Tyneside.
Newcastle's new jackpot signing
This summer, Newcastle signed a number of new first-team players. Under the radar was the £35m signing of Malick Thiaw from AC Milan, but the central defender has been proving his worth since entering the fray.
The 24-year-old, a product of Schalke’s youth academy, has joined a robust and varied backline at Newcastle, but he has started to stake a strong claim for a regular starting role alongside Sven Botman.
Already establishing himself as a fan favourite, Thiaw’s reading of the game is almost scholarly, so sharp is he when pitted against potential danger. Positionally and through sharp timing, he is already going from strength to strength, and that bodes well when considering where he could end up on the scale of importance at Newcastle.
Across three games in the Premier League so far this term, the 6 foot 1 talent has won 63% of his duels, averaging five clearances each match and playing with a degree of confidence and composure that eludes many signings when they arrive from overseas.
Hailed as a “monster in the air” by journalist Martino Puccio, the German is proving himself to be adept across the myriad duties of a modern defender competing for a top team. His is a wide-ranging skillset.
Against Union Saint-Gilloise, he was awarded an 8/10 match rating by the Shields Gazette, having controlled things at the back and having shown his class on the ball, completing 91% of his passes and winning all three aerial challenges, as recorded by Sofascore.
And this is a consistent thing, a promising pattern. He ranks among the top 7% of centre-halves across Europe for pass completion, and the top 19% for progressive passes per 90.
Thiaw has long been regarded as a top defensive talent, but injury issues have not been kind to him during his time in Italy. However, Newcastle boast plenty of depth in central defence, with Fabian Schar and Dan Burn both into their thirties but still among the most industrious centre-backs in the Premier League.
They will all earn starting berths across the campaign, and in this way, Thiaw can be allowed to bloom in the English game and grow into a world-class asset on Tyneside, taking this remarkable Newcastle team to an even higher level.
Reporter Jordan Cronin remarked after the win in Belgium that Woltemade and Thiaw might just go down as “the best signings of the summer”.
Given that the centre-back cost about half of the striker’s £69m fee, there’s a solid case to be made that his is the shrewder signature, and that, with more strong performances, he might not only go down as the signing of the summer, but one of Newcastle’s finest captures since Howe first took his seat in the St. James’ Park dugout.