Broadcaster Richard Keys has described the transfer window for Newcastle United as ‘underwhelming’, after the recent takeover was so promising in terms of potentially bringing high-calibre players through the door.
Writing on his personal blog, Keys devoted part of his latest post to discussing Newcastle’s January activity, claiming that the Toon are ‘still in big trouble’ as he criticised the additions they made to the squad late in the transfer window.
Keys had strong words to say about the business of signing Bruno Guimaraes, saying: “Guimaraes is the wrong man, at the wrong time, at the wrong club, for me.
“Is he really going to dig them out of trouble? I don’t think so. He’s got quality, that’s for sure – but he might just be the ‘new’ Dimitri Payet.
“They were nowhere near the ones they really wanted. All the money [in] the world doesn’t guarantee success.”
TIF Thoughts on Richard Keys’ comments about Newcastle United…
It could be argued that if Guimaraes was to be anything like Payet was during his time in the Premier League, then it would be a highly successful transfer.
Although he didn’t leave on the greatest of terms, Payet brought joy to plenty of the Hammers fanbase for the 18 months he was at the club, will be remembered (by some, at least) as one of West Ham’s most exciting players to watch in their history.
Newcastle have lacked that spark in recent times, and it could be argued they’ve needed someone to get the fans off their seats.
Keys may be correct in terms of timing, as Howe needed to bring in players to spur them onto Premier League safety, but who’s to say that the Brazilian won’t be able to provide this?
Signings such as Matt Targett and Dan Burn could be the foundation of Premier League survival as they have experience in the division. Mixing this with more so-called ‘luxury’ players such as Guimaraes could yet be the perfect combination that Howe was looking for, so it could still be the case the Keys is eating his words at the end of the season.