Journalist Ciaran Kelly has been speaking on Chronicle Live about what people inside Newcastle United really think of Chris Wood.
Newcastle United were one of the busiest and most exciting teams during the January transfer window as they brought in five new players which saw them splash out over £90m on new players.
The second-most expensive signing was striker Chris Wood from Burnley, but despite costing the club £25m, it’s safe to say he hasn’t lived up to that price tag, managing just two goals in 19 appearances for the Magpies.
However, Kelly has claimed that everyone within Newcastle are happy with what Wood has brought to the club despite an obvious lack of goals.
“I think Chris Wood, it’s a tricky one. Anyone you speak to around the club will say without him, it would have been a different story in the second half of last season. I know it doesn’t seem it, but the selfless work he did, the team play, I don’t think it can be understated.
“But equally, goals are what he was going to always be judged on, and particularly when he had a pretty good record – at least 10 Premier League goals in each season at Burnley – you have to say the service wasn’t great for him as well, that didn’t help him, but he was always going to be judged on goals.
Has Wood been a flop at Newcastle?
Yes!
No!
“I think this season, he’ll be used more off the bench and it’s going to be hard for him maybe to score 10 goals that way, but I think there will be games where he certainly will still play his part.”
TIF Thoughts on Chris Wood’s time at Newcastle…
While a lot of Newcastle fans won’t likely have many positive things to say about Wood given he’s a £25m striker that has managed to score just twice since he arrived in January, the Magpies have only lost four games when the New Zealand international has started.
Meanwhile, Kelly’s comments do suggest he has played an important role behind the scenes, which may be surprising for someone who hasn’t been too influential on the pitch.
Therefore, it would suggest that whatever job and instructions Eddie Howe wanted him to do and carry out were done in an effective manner, as they achieved their aim of remaining in the Premier League rather convincingly.
However, as a striker, he simply needs to be scoring more, and as Kelly alluded to, given his expected bench role behind Callum Wilson this season, it’s very unlikely he will be able to score many this campaign to help Newcastle out.