by Predicted position of guardian writers: 7th (NB: It is not necessarily the prediction of Louise Taylor but the average of the advice of our writers)
Position of last season: 5th
Prospects
A campaign of the Champions League is bearing and there is the Carabao Cup to defend, but the removal of the image of Alexander Isak from the windows of the club store of Newcastle in St James’ Park is emblematic of a disturbed summer of Tyneside. As if the Swedish striker’s decision to jump the club’s tour in Singapore and in South Korea while trying to force a move to Liverpool was not serious enough, a succession of transfer objectives refused Newcastle.
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Hugo Ekititiké, Bryan Mbeumo, João Pedro, James Trafford and Benjamin Sesko chose to move to Liverpool, London or Manchester as a majority Saudi club operated without sports director and managing director. The good news is that Eddie Howe is an excellent coach and has many high caliber players, Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimarães, Anthony Elaga, Jelinton and Anthony Gordon above all. Add the arrivals of Anthony Elanga, Aaron Ramsdale and, almost certainly, of Malick Thiaw and the departure of the last season was fortified in order, the central defense and on the right wing.
The need for a few strikers and, above all, a resolution of Isak’s flirt with Liverpool remains pressing. The admission of Howe according to which he “wants players who really want to play for this football club” suggests that the manager has enough of Isak, but depends a lot on the imminent financial bargain expected between the owners of Newcastle and the board of directors of Anfield. Meanwhile, Newcastle failed to win a pre-season match. “It was a difficult summer,” said Howe. “But any season can go in two ways. Things are never as good or as bad as you think. For the moment, I am very neutral. I think that, from difficult times, you can build something more special than before.”
The manager
Any concern that Howe could wade from its comfort zone on the south coast has indeed been banned over the four years near the years that the former manager of Bournemouth spent on Tyneside. The 47-year-old work executioner is an exceptional coach who, during the driving of Newcastle in the Champions League for the second time in three seasons and choreographed the triumph of the Carabao Cup, improved a series of players beyond the measure. The surprising metamorphosis of Jelinton, from the midfielder in difficulty in the midfield, testifies to the talents of Howe. Although an excellent very articulated communicator, the Newcastle piano manager does not easily distribute confidence and, at least publicly, is a master of the circumspection.
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Out -of -field
Despite the gargantuan wealth of the public investment fund of Saudi Arabia, the relatively thin sources of commercial income in Newcastle dictate that their expenses are limited by the rules of profitability and sustainability of the Premier League. Fans and some players are frustrated by the failure of the Saudis to offer a new training field, and a decision to reorganize the St James park or to build a new stadium continues to be postponed. This does not help that the club have spent the last 11 months looking for a new managing director after the outgoing diagnosis of Darren Eales blood cancer and was without sports director this summer following the steep exit from Paul Mitchell in June, after less than a year in work. Since the eviction of the former owner of the Amanda Staveley minority and her husband, Mehrdad Ghodoussi, last summer, the absence of Arabist and / or a manager of Saudi corporate culture in the British hierarchy of Newcastle has created an apparent disconnection.
Star signature
The signing of 55 million pounds from Elanga from Nottingham Forest Elaga ends the long -standing quest for Howe for a new right winger. “I want to enhance my talent,” said the 23 -year -old Swedish international who overflows quickly. “I am punctuated and direct. I can play on each side, I can play as an attacker. I can use both feet. I have a lot of weapons. I know that the gauffer and the staff here can bring my game to another level. What we want to achieve, how we want to play is perfect. Howe has long been impressed by a player whose lonely work on his left foot during locking left Elaga to two feet. “I have a saying where I am precise, not rushed,” explains the former winger of Manchester United. “It’s a French saying, not precipitated, something that I have a lot. In my life, I have never precipitated anything. “
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Speaker
Lewis Miley is 19 years old but is very similar to the full midfielder and holds two caps in England under 21. After having broken into the first newcastle team during the 2023-24 campaign, a 6-foot 2-inch player with an eye for the goal, also at home in the role of defensive or attacker midfielder, was limited to 14 appearances last season. If a back injury was partly responsible, the best young to emerge from the Newcastle Academy for a very long time was faced with a rigid completion of Tonali, Guimarães and Jelinton for a starting place in the Trinity in the midfielder of Howe. The requirements of a Champions League campaign should create more opportunities this term when Miley can show that he is able to provide real competition to Guimarães and CO.
A great season for …
At 27, Aaron Ramsdale underwent three relegations from the Premier League (with Bournemouth, Sheffield United and Southampton), was bought by Arsenal for 30 million pounds Sterling and won five caps in England. He joins Southampton and will compete with Nick Pope for a starting point. Howe, the former manager of Bournemouth de Ramsdale, admires his game of legs and considers his old protégé as the type of goalkeeper necessary to advance the stylistic evolution of Newcastle. But is Ramsdale really a better versatile goalkeeper than the Pope? Can it resume the form which once made it the first choice of Arsenal? And can it appease the disappointment of Newcastle to see Manchester City diverting their move for Trafford, the former goalkeeper of Burnley?
