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Opinion

5 Newcastle players to complement the 6 new signings

9 years ago
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Last season showed that this group of Newcastle players is not good enough.

Maybe they shouldn’t have ended up in a position of fighting relegation on the final day of the season, but surely we all must accept that the current Newcastle team/squad is not one that can compete for the top eight.

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Turning this summer’s lack of activity into a positive, at least we haven’t signed any rubbish yet…

A second positive, is that the Chronicle have reporteda number of times that according to their club information, half a dozen new players are set to arrive at St James Park.

Again being positive, I want to believe that we are talking about six first team ready players, not ones for the future who we”ll be stuck with for the next five years with them hardly stepping on the pitch.

I think that if we bring in the right six players then the following five will complement them perfectly, giving Newcastle a team capable of competing.

Siem de Jong

Whatever we do or don’t do in the transfer window, this is one player who we have to expect will show his class this coming season. Said to be Yohan Cabaye’s replacement, albeit a slightly different type of player, the Dutchman is on my list of five.

Daryl Janmaat

A bit of a no-brainer. Newcastle’s best defender against some pretty non-existent competition, as well as the team’s equal best provider of goals (six) with Jack Colback.

Moussa Sissoko

Whilst he would undoubtedly prefer to be somewhere else, Moussa has had a reality check.

Didier Descamps has warned Sissoko and others of the hazards of moving this summer to a ‘bigger’ club and ending up with no regular football, thus automatically forfeiting a place in the Euros 2016 squad for France. He has to deliver this coming season – not for Newcastle, not for the fans, but for himself – I have a feeling we will see a different Moussa Sissoko this coming season.

Papiss Cisse

I struggle to see how we are going to get a better goalscorer, or indeed two of them, this summer. My hope is that as well as keeping Cisse we bring in another striker who can team up with the Senegal hitman and provide a potent strike force.

Rolando Aarons

Despite never having started a Premier League match as yet, it is clear that the winger has something about him. He can take people on, cross the ball and score goals – which I think gives him three more qualities than the rest of our wingers! Like de Jong, we have to take it on trust that he has sorted himself out injury-wise and will hit the ground running.

By naming these five, it doesn’t mean I disregard the rest of the squad, well not all of them anyway.

Ayoze Perez has a great future but for his and the team’s benefit I think we need a player ahead of him so he isn’t automatic first choice this coming season.

Elsewhere, Colback is steady, Krul could potentially bounce back and you always hope Cheick Tiote might do the same. As for the rest, Adam Armstrong needs to get out on loan to play regularly and I suppose there is a case for Remy Cabella magically being able to compete in the Premier League if last season can prove just a very steep learning curve.

No comment on pretty much all of the rest.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, it might be very dim but I can just about see the faintest sign of it.

A couple of credible signings can transform the current mood, so here’s hoping.

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