Joe Buck takes a look at Newcastle United's main summer transfer priority following Paul Mitchell's appointment as new sporting director.
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00:00So, after a blistering end to June and a fairly frantic start to July, things have just seemed
00:07to calm down on the transfer front at Newcastle United in recent days. As mentioned, you know,
00:12Yiancuba, Minta and Elliot Anderson, they moved to Brighton and Nottingham Forest respectively
00:16that was to help with the profit and sustainability rules. Newcastle of course confirmed that
00:21John Ruddy and Odysseys of Lacademos has joined the club and that all happened within a fairly
00:28frantic few days in the stroke of July, but things have just quietened down in recent
00:33days. Obviously, Paul Mitchell, the new sporting director, he's just starting his role. His
00:37main role now and for the next few weeks will be to find players for Eddie Howard's first
00:42team, ways to strengthen the team that finished last year in seventh in the Premier League
00:48now. You can look back at last year, lots of injury issues and there's been plenty of
00:53dissection of last year, but basically this year, with no European football, you know,
00:58they will be targeting a return to the Champions League certainly and to do that, they're going
01:02to need a strengthen in the transfer market. We know they want a right winger, certainly
01:06a versatile forward who can play either in the middle or out wide. That'll be someone
01:10they look at. Plenty of names have been linked. Recently, obviously, Michael Ulisse, he's
01:14gone to Bayern Munich, so they missed out on him. Whether that was a move that was going
01:19to happen, especially without Champions League football or certain European football would
01:22have been an interesting one. But, you know, he's gone, they can't concentrate on that
01:25anymore. They've seen a young player, Amario Cosa-Dubre, move to Brighton. So, it'll be
01:30interesting to see how the dynamic between him and Minta work, both very young and very
01:36bright players, but obviously both play in that wide role. So, it'll be interesting how
01:42they can co-exist. But for Newcastle United, as I said, it's been a slow few days, lots
01:46of transfer links, as expected, but very, very few sort of movements in and out of the
01:52club, really. They still want to get rid of some players, people like Isaac Hayden, Jamal
01:56Lewis, Ryan Fraser. I've got no real future at the club. They'll be wanting to get rid
02:01of those and get them off their wage books and get a transfer fee for any of them. That'll
02:05be brilliant. We've also seen links, Callum Wilson, Miguel Almiron, both, you know, will
02:10link with an exit in January. Are they going to be staying around the club this, you know,
02:15this season? Will anyone come in for them? Particularly in Wilson's case, I think his
02:19injury record might deter some clubs, but you just never know. And of course, Miguel
02:22Almiron has got interest in Saudi Arabia, but whether he wants to move or not, again,
02:26is another debate. But yeah, it's going to be a summer full of exciting moves from Newcastle.
02:32They're going to be, hopefully, you would like to think, they're going to be going big
02:36in the market to sign some big names to boost Eddie Howe's first team. I think that's the
02:42main thing this summer. I think that the squad depth is probably good enough. They
02:47just need to get maybe two or three big names to really raise the level of, you know, their
02:53squad and the ability in that squad. Of course, the Lloyd Kelly signing will help straight
02:57away, but I think they really need the marquee name almost, you know, even if it's one or
03:01two big players, just to add a little bit of competition and really take them to the
03:06next level. Because last year, I showed that in games and, you know, against most teams,
03:11to be honest, they were competing. And they did put on runs, even though injuries all
03:16around them, you know, even though we're down to sort of 12, 13 senior players at one point,
03:20they were still picking up wins and big wins. So you'd hope that they can do that again
03:24this year without these injury issues. But I said that that's going to have to start
03:28with some summer signings. And right now, it is quiet. But of course, we all know that
03:33once one domino falls, the rest sort of can start. And I think that that will be the case
03:38this summer, that once the big major tournaments that are currently getting played, the international
03:43tournaments, once they're done, and teams start coming back to pre-season training,
03:46and Newcastle haven't come back just yet, that's sort of expected to be the end this
03:50week, that the players will start moving. We'll start to see movements, not just in
03:53the Premier League, not just in Newcastle United, but in the Premier League and of course
03:57across Europe. And the best way you can stay up to date with all the latest Newcastle United
04:01transfer news and updates throughout the summer is, of course, with the Shields Gazette.