LA MANGA – Winning the transfer window can be overrated.
By all accounts it was Liverpool who did it 12 months ago, only for them to mount the limpest of Premier League title defences.
Brentford and Bournemouth flogged their best players, were tipped to struggle and yet prospered thanks to cute recruitment.
This year Arsenal fancy their chances of being crowned best buyers after signing Bruno Guimaraes and making a serious play for superstar forward Vinicius Junior.
Worst window? Consensus seems to be forming around Newcastle.
The Magpies boss has joined his new squad for pre-season in La Manga (Photo: Getty)Knockbacks for key targets, selling their three best players and losing a long-serving manager mean there is a growing band of doubters.
I was one of them. This time last week I wrote the Magpies project was at its moment of gravest peril and I had company. Alan Shearer has warned of “challenging times” ahead and of a “tough” season.
Odds have narrowed sharply on Newcastle, who have sold their three best players, being relegated.
Put that to club insiders and there are peals of laughter. From the top down they believe there is something brewing on Tyneside – a “proper plan” according to chief executive David Hopkinson – and after 48 hours with the team in the baking sun I get it.
There is something about the uncertainty that is intoxicating.
New manager Matthias Jaissle has been hailed as a “rockstar” by Hopkinson, who has dubbed him “MJ”.
But the side we saw of him in Spain was more collected than charismatic, handling himself well without overpromising.
There were flashes of personality – a self-deprecating joke about his supposedly receding hairline, a giggle at one reporter’s gag – and the players have warmed to him. He is 38 and an absolute unit.
Sources describe his training sessions as ‘aggressive, intense and relentless’ (Photo: Getty)Jaissle’s personality properly comes out on the training ground, where he runs so much that insiders joke he should have a GPS band strapped to his chest. He will be an energetic presence on Premier League touchlines.
Performance director James Bunce revealed that sprint intensity statistics have been the best for four years this week. Jaissle’s football will be “front footed, aggressive, vertical, high-energy, intense and relentless” and the training sessions in his first week have matched that.
Double sessions have been designed to return Newcastle to the point where they were difficult to play against and short video sessions have been used to show the players what is expected of them.
There is a feeling here that the Premier League is wide open. Why can’t Newcastle’s new group barge their way into the best of the rest again?
The reset button on a squad that felt stale has been prodded and there is enthusiasm about what that means.
With big players exiting, a new leadership group is emerging. Sven Botman and Malick Thiaw – an outside bet to be the new captain – have taken on more of a leadership role.
Yoanne Wissa, whose physical stats are apparently “off the charts” since returning from a World Cup where he thrived, is playing a key role knitting together different groups. His authority is growing while Lewis Miley – who is set to benefit the most from the midfield exits – has apparently seriously impressed Jaissle.
There is real enthusiasm about Sean Steur, whose ability on the pitch is matched by his attitude off it. Invited to talk to performance staff at the club one day last week, he delivered an in-depth and brutally self-reflective assessment of his display in training. That can only bode well.
Much will now depend on the next phase of recruitment. Newcastle are flush again after their sales and ownership are at pains to show they are engaged. PIF director Jacobo Solis was an interested bystander in Spain, having jetted over to show support for Jaissle. Minority owner Jamie Reuben was also in the team’s hotel for meetings.
There are more signings to come. Sources over here speak of a new plan to add “three to four” new faces to the five they have already brought in and there is hope of swift progress on Guimaraes’ replacement. The high-profile sales this summer are over, too, with Lewis Hall deemed untouchable.
That sense of a changing of the guard has been keenly felt by Jaissle. He repeated the word “transition” several times, stepping back from bold predictions about where the club might finish in his huddle with journalists out here.
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Analysis: Seven ways Newcastle can save their season Transfers: Inside Newcastle’s £75m plans for life after Bruno GuimaraesHe was unflustered by talk of relegation after losing players.
“This is the challenge,” he said.
“There are so many transitions at the moment, many players left, big, big players, legends for the club left. But we need to see it as a chance, not [to make] excuses now.”
That is probably wise. He had little say in the departure of Guimaraes, who tearfully addressed his teammates in a goodbye speech on Wednesday, speaking of how much Newcastle meant to him before departing for Arsenal in a £75m move.
But seven days on from Eddie Howe’s departure, Jaissle is providing cause for optimism at Newcastle.
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