Newcastle United have held talks about bringing in another forward in the January transfer window as the club explore ways to support Matthias Jaissle after a bruising few weeks on Tyneside.
While a weekend draw at Fulham was far from perfect, it did afford the Magpies – and a manager who has received a crash course in the scrutiny that comes with being a Premier League boss – much-needed breathing space after a damaging run of three defeats from four games.
With Arsenal, Brighton, Manchester United and Sunderland as their next run of fixtures, it feels like crunch time is approaching, but Newcastle go into the international break in much better spirits.
Having held a series of “positive” meetings with the club’s senior players after the chaotic Everton defeat, Jaissle had told the hierarchy he was confident that there would be a reaction at Craven Cottage. And the display in west London convinced him that they are moving in the right direction, even if the Newcastle manager admits privately they remain a long way from reaching their potential.
Newcastle’s transfer window priority
Two things are key to what comes next: finessing a “vertical football” strategy that insiders admit Jaissle has not managed to properly explain yet and tweaking the squad in the next transfer window to better align with the manager’s approach.
Central to his “vertical” system is the belief that when you win the ball you should look to quickly play it forward to exploit the opposition’s lack of defensive organisation. But that does not mean players are expected to always do it – and recent training sessions have sought to help the players better understand when retaining possession makes more sense.
Jaissle has admitted that some of the nuance of the system has been “lost in translation” but Saturday’s changes – with Sean Steur back in the side – were designed partly to correct the problems that emerged during the Everton loss.
Jaissle hasn’t been able to execute his system effectively yet (Photo: Getty)On the second point, there seems to be a willingness to explore recruitment “solutions”, with Newcastle having retained some wiggle room to sign players in January if they need to.
As part of the club’s player trading strategy any incomings may require outgoings, although they are in decent financial shape and given their compliance with financial fair play rules, sales could be put off until the summer.
The internal view has always been that the priority in the transfer window is to address the centre-back position, with Newcastle looking replace one of two veteran defenders in Fabian Schar and Dan Burn in the coming seasons.
The Dinamo Zagreb striker on Newcastle’s radar
Not unreasonably, Jaissle feels that they are light on goals, which could prompt a pivot in their priorities with a striker or a number ten potentially on the radar if the right player becomes available.
Newcastle opted to stick rather than twist when it came to signing a specialist striker in the summer – partly because there was no interest in Yoane Wissa, who they would have considered selling to refresh their striker department. They also repelled “significant” interest in Will Osula, who has scored once in seven appearances this season.
The loan exit of Nick Woltemade, whose long-term future remains uncertain, gave them the financial “wiggle room” to sign Matias Fernandez-Pardo, who can play as a number nine. But he didn’t look ready or equipped to play that role in his first four Premier League starts and might be better suited to playing in a wide role.
A Newcastle source told The i Paper it was currently a “really barren market for strikers” across Europe, which had played into their approach during the summer. It also influenced their move to sign Guinea-Bissau forward Afner Ca to the under-21s, with Newcastle keen to have more “forwards in the pipeline in the future”.
Dion Drena Beljo scored against Sunderland in the Europa League last week (Photo: Getty)But they are struggling for goals in the short-term – Jaissle even deploying Burn as an emergency striker in the loss to Aston Villa – and it probably makes sense to explore options in January.
Newcastle have been linked with a move for 30-year-old Ivan Toney, who worked with Jaissle at Al-Ahli, but given his wages and age, that won’t be happening – even if his experience and profile might help a youthful Magpies side. Newcastle scouts have, though, watched Dinamo Zagreb’s prolific £20m-rated forward Dion Drena Beljo in recent months. He scored against Sunderland in the Europa League last week.
How Newcastle can quieten the dissent
Jaissle was only directly involved in one signing during the summer – the £29.5m move for right-back Amir Dedic. He was consulted on other deals after his appointment, including the £51m capture of Fernandez-Pardo on deadline day, but significant background work on all of those signings had been carried out before his appointment.
January is therefore the first real chance for Jaissle to bring in players who could help solve some of the problems that he has encountered in his first 10 games and if Newcastle back him with funds it would be a further sign that they are “all in” on the German, which is the message that has been emanating from St James’ Park since the last international break.
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Daniel Story: Liverpool have one area to target to fix the silliness Pete Hall: Man Utd fans hit a new low by humiliating Diogo DalotThe Magpies have absorbed criticism for their recruitment but Jaissle is understood to be enthusiastic about the players they have signed. £34m signing Aladji Bamba has been singled out for his lack of impact but is understood to have trained well in recent weeks.
He is a signing “for the next year or two years” and that is one of the issues around the “Newcastle 2.0” project – balancing a club now looking to the long-term with the short-term issue of staying competitive.
Perhaps the answer is to loosen the purse strings and hand Jaissle some ready-made fixes if they want to permanently quieten some of the noise around Newcastle.
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