Newsletter

Get your daily update and weekly newsletter by signing up today!

Opinion

Ranking every Newcastle United January transfer window from worst to best (15-11)

2 years ago
Share

For fans, the recent Newcastle United January transfer window was a refreshing reminder of what can be achieved with a dose of ambition.

Despite a slew of – ultimately unsuccessful – protracted bids for the likes of Diego Carlos, Sven Botman and Jesse Lingard, and an eleventh-hour Hugo Ekitike snub, the Magpies were the highest spending club on the planet during the winter aperture, splashing around £90m on five new acquisitions.

Always a challenging time to conduct business, the mid-season window is one which has often passed the Toon by without a tremor since its inception during the 2002-03 season.

Dom Kureen ranks all 20 of Newcastle’s January transfer windows to date, listing any notable deals that took place.

PART TWO (15-11)

15. Promotion reinforcements rejected (2017)

IN

None

OUT

Cheick Tiote (Free, BJ BSU)

Tim Krul (Loan, AZ Alkmaar)

Round up

With Rafa’s promotion chasers involved in a three-way scrap with Brighton and Huddersfield, the Spanish coach was keen to return Andros Townsend to Tyneside after his summer move to Crystal Palace had faltered.

Mike Ashley wasn’t budging, choosing to risk missing out on the land of milk and honey by sticking with the current crop of players.

Issue 256 – 5 March 2011

A past his peak Tiote and unfit Krul were peddled to lighten the wage bill – the latter temporarily.

14. American nightmare (2007)

IN

Oguchi Onyewu (£250k Loan, Standard Liege)

OUT

None

Round up

Another January, another unwieldy centre back – this time in the shape of American international Oguchi Onyewu.

Built like a Quayside doorman, ‘Gooch’ never appeared comfortable with the pace of English football and had to be coaxed through games by partner Steven Taylor most of the time.

Amazingly, the 69-cap defender’s next move was to Italian giants AC Milan, although injury meant he never played a match in Serie A.

13. Blunder-kids aplenty (2008)

IN

Tamas Kadar (£1m, Zalaegerszeg)

Ben Tozer (£200k, Swindon Town)

Fabio Zamlera (Free, Atalanta)

Lamine Diatta (Free, Besiktas)

OUT

David Rozenhal (£900k Loan, Lazio)

Shola Ameobi (£500K Loan, Stoke City)

Celestine Babayaro (Free, LA Galaxy)

Round up

Mike Ashley’s masterplan of signing young players on the cheap and selling them at a high mark up began in this window, with three teenage additions – none of whom threatened to make the grade.

Failed moves for Jonathan Woodgate and Luka Modric were the result of bizarre negotiation tactics, with useless Vice President of player recruitment, Tony Jimenez, allegedly the reason for the failure to secure the Croatian maestro.

It was said to be him who told the future Ballon d’Or winner’s agent that the player wasn’t good enough to start for a Newcastle side boasting the likes of Geremi and Alan Smith in the centre of the park.

12. An unwanted hattrick (2020)

IN

Danny Rose (£1.8m Loan, Tottenham Hotspur)

Valentino Lazaro (£1m Loan, Inter Milan)

Nabil Bentaleb (£700k Loan, FC Schalke)

OUT

Sung-Yueng Ki (Free, RCD Mallorca)

Round up

With Steve Bruce’s side floating a few places clear of relegation danger during the manager’s inaugural season ‘back home,’ owner Mike Ashley opted to plunder the loan market rather than stump up for permanent signings.

In came a chubby imitation of England left-back Danny Rose, pedestrian central midfielder Bentaleb and the slightly more promising Lazaro, although none of the trio made a positive impression and few tears were shed when they returned  to their parent clubs that summer.

Ki was a low-profile departure.

11. Given away amongst the chaos (2009)

IN

Kevin Nolan (£4m, Bolton Wanderers)

Ryan Taylor (£750k, Wigan Athletic)

Haris Vuckic (£60k, NK Domzale)

Peter Lovenkrands (Free, FC Schalke)

OUT

Charles N’Zogbia (£6.2m, Wigan Athletic)

Seamus Given (£5.9m, Manchester City)

Round up

With the Magpies stranded in the bottom three during a debacle of a season, loyal custodian Shay Given had his head turned by Man City’s exciting new project, having become disillusioned with the chaos at his beloved Newcastle.

Issue 229 – 13 September 2008

Charles N’Zogbia had made noises about joining Arsenal and Real Madrid, but ultimately settled on the dimmer lights of Wigan – citing his chagrin at Joe Kinnear’s mispronunciation of his name (Kinnear called the young Frenchman ‘Charles Insomnia’ in an interview).

JFK and Ashley secured the services of three players who would prove essential in future seasons but only Lovenkrands settled in good time. The club also beat a host of rivals to the signature of exciting 16-year-old Slovakian midfielder Haris Vuckic.

(To read part one (20-16) of this Newcastle United January transfer window countdown go HERE)

You can follow the author (Dominic Kureen) on Twitter @WriteOnDom

Share

If you would like to feature on The Mag, submit your article to contribute@themag.co.uk

Have your say

© 2024 The Mag. All Rights Reserved. Design & Build by Mediaworks