Newcastle suffering because of their transfer policies over summer and last few windows – BBC expert | OneFootball

Newcastle United are ‘suffering’ due to their ‘transfer policies’ in recent transfer windows.

That is the belief of BBC Newcastle’s Matthew Raisbeck, who covers United home and away.

Raisbeck believing that Newcastle United have needed a third striker ever since Chris Wood left for Nottingham Forest.

The BBC Newcastle man is not alone in this of course, with many Newcastle United fans thinking along similar lines.

“I think Newcastle have needed a third striker for almost two years – since they sold Chris Wood to Nottingham Forest.

“He scored again against Crystal Palace on Monday night and, even though he didn’t have a great record at Newcastle, he has been great everywhere else.

“I don’t think he has been replaced, in terms of being a striker that can play in the Premier League, can start regularly and has experience.

“I like William Osula. I can see why they have brought him in to develop, but if you’re going to spend that sort of money then someone like Liam Delap [is more suited]. He has done well for Ipswich and looks more ready for Premier League football, whereas Osula doesn’t.

“The whole thing around going for Marc Guehi – I think we can understand why clubs would be interested in him, because he was excellent for England in the summer and he is brilliant for Crystal Palace – but it wasn’t a priority position for Newcastle, in my view.

“Newcastle needed a right-sided attacker and/or another striker, so I think the club are now suffering because of their transfer policies over the summer and the last few windows.”

Personally, I think there is a lot of hindsight in play with these conversations and a denial of the reality.

At the end of the 2022/23 season, not one Newcastle United fan was saying what a terrible decision it had been to let Chris Wood go.

Newcastle United finished fourth that season and Chris Wood left on his initial Forest loan on 19 January 2023 scoring just one goal in seven appearances for his new team, in seven PL matches before getting injured.

By the time he left that season, Newcastle United had played 19 Premier League matches and Wood had started just four of them. He made 14 brief sub appearances as well, though totalled only 437 PL minutes in total for Newcastle that season and scored just two PL goals.

When people talk of a desperate need for a third striker, the reality is how much money are you prepared to spend on transfer fee and wages for somebody who may hardly ever play, as was the case with Wood in his final half season. Plus, which strikers would be interested in coming to Newcastle United, in the knowledge that they will be third choice and every chance they might rarely play.

I am guessing that Chris Wood wouldn’t have wanted to stay on that basis and as he has proved, he is a striker who should be playing first choice for a Premier League side at this stage of his career, set to turn 33 in December.

Indeed, would Liam Delap have agreed to come to Newcastle United and be third choice striker, rather than starting for Ipswich?