Newcastle United’s ‘player of the season’ at the beating heart of Eddie Howe’s team | OneFootball

As Newcastle’s players basked in the adulation from St James’ Park, one figure towered above them. He always does, but Dan Burn extended further into the Tyneside skyline during the lap of honour as he punched the air in seeming disbelief. The man who has admitted he thought his chances of playing for his boyhood club were gone when a takeover led them to be deemed the world’s richest club will instead play in a second final for them. The last Geordies to win a major English trophy for Newcastle included the great Jackie Milburn. The next ones could include Burn.

He has always given a human face to Newcastle’s revival, the likeable local with the ungainly frame and the improbable career path. Explosively brilliant as Alexander Isak is, Burn was described after the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final win over Arsenal by Anthony Gordon as Newcastle’s player of the season. Thomas Tuchel probably won’t call, but Burn has arguably been the best English centre-back in the Premier League this year. His reward may yet come in the form of silverware.

Many far beyond his native Blyth would welcome that. For all the talk of sportswashing that greeted the buyout from the Saudi Public Investment Fund, perhaps this is sportsburning: Newcastle’s oversized underdog, a scorer in last season’s rout of Paris Saint-Germain, helps generate a feelgood factor.

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Dan Burn marks Arsenal’s Gabriel at a set piece (Arsenal FC via Getty)

It also illustrates a way in which the Newcastle project has turned out rather differently than how many anticipated. Perhaps that is a sign that PSR is working, that Newcastle are constrained, unable to access their owners’ millions. Or that Saudi attention has been diverted elsewhere: Jhon Duran was bought at vast expense in January, Kaoru Mitoma the subject of huge bids, but not from Newcastle.

Meanwhile, United belatedly became sellers, arranging remarkably good fees for Miguel Almiron and on-loan Lloyd Kelly, neither from Saudi Arabia. For a second successive transfer window, they made a profit. For a third in a row, they did not strengthen the first XI. Had Marc Guehi joined last summer, then Burn may have been more peripheral now. Instead, he is pivotal.

So Newcastle have become something else, a team of canny recruitment, continuity and coaching. “I have been here long enough to say that is my team,” reflected Eddie Howe after Arsenal were overpowered. The manager talked about their qualities; he has achieved the rare feat of bringing synergy with the crowd through a style of play that suits both players and fans.

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Newcastle manager Eddie Howe set up his team perfectly to beat Arsenal (Owen Humphreys/PA)

It is his side in another respect. Of the 11 who started against Arsenal, eight were purchases he made. They show another rarity: an almost impeccable strike rate in the transfer market. All eight rank as successes and if that may not be said of Lewis Hall and Sandro Tonali 12 months ago, now it feels true. The Italian is a rare blend of style and energy, equipped with Andrea Pirlo’s look and Gennaro Gattuso’s lungs. When Newcastle have spent big, they have tended to get high-class players. Manchester United and Chelsea are proof that is not necessarily the case elsewhere. And that quality explains why Newcastle are a dangerous opponent for the elite.

The Howe eight cost around £270m: now there is a case for saying £270m would be required simply to take Bruno Guimaraes, Gordon and Isak from Newcastle. Should they so wish, six could probably be sold for profits and if Kieran Trippier and Burn cannot, that is only on grounds of age. Add in Nick Pope and Tino Livramento and Howe has 10 triumphs in the transfer market; in Fabian Schar, Jacob Murphy, Joelinton and Sean Longstaff, he has transformed at least four he has inherited.

And PSR has meant Newcastle have almost had to be perfect. In a way, Howe’s worst signing was the most necessary, Odysseas Vlachodimos, the £20m third-choice goalkeeper who, along with Elliot Anderson’s sale to Nottingham Forest, was part of the frantic trading at the end of June which spared anyone points deductions.

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Jacob Murphy sneaked in a rebound to get Newcastle’s second leg started (Owen Humphreys/PA)

Beyond that, it is notable that Howe, something of a low-profile loyalist of a manager, has eschewed the revolving-door recruitment of Villa and Chelsea. He prefers to work with what he has; PSR’s impact on other clubs rendered it less likely a supersized offer would arrive for Isak or Guimaraes. Injury and suspension respectively meant Sven Botman and Tonali were unsellable last summer. Howe’s resourcefulness entails finding the answer within: moving Burn infield when Botman was out, turning Murphy into one of the division’s leading assisters, recalibrating his midfield with Tonali at the base, switching to a back five against Arsenal.

It still required that initial investment, which was scarcely small, but there is an organic element to it. Saudi spending has not distorted the Premier League; or not yet, anyway. Rather, this is a club shaped by Howe. He is within sight of two significant achievements. Financially, Champions League qualification, for the second time in three seasons, would make more of a long-term difference, supplying more funds that can become a platform for further progress and bring in more players. Yet the importance of a trophy is not lost on anyone on Tyneside. Especially the former season-ticket holder at the heart of the defence.