Exciting times at Newcastle United | OneFootball

These are exciting times at Newcastle United.

A difficult summer for all of us to endure.

Negativity surrounding Newcastle United in the media.

Day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, the media coverage meaning that United fans felt like they were stuck in some endless loop. Waking up to the same reporting across the worldwide media.

It became so overpowering, meaning that it was almost forgotten about that only months earlier, Eddie Howe and his players had won a trophy and qualified for the Champions League for a second time in three years.

That was then though and this is now.

Clearly the events of this summer didn’t help Eddie Howe and his players either BUT now they and the fans are out the other end of it.

There is light at the end of the tunnel and for me it is brighter than I thought possible back in May.

Over £260m spent on new signings and finally Eddie Howe now has a Newcastle United squad fit for purpose, not just a starting eleven.

We have two England international goalkeepers competing to be first choice.

There is competition across the defence in all positions. The options include another four England internationals (Trippier, Burn, Hall, Livramento), a German international centre-back added, whilst the excellent Schar has started the season well and we also have Sven Botman back fully fit at last. Two clean sheets in the opening three Premier League games. strongly suggesting that this area of the pitch is going to be a real positive this season.

It was great to see Elliot Anderson getting his chance with England, man of the match in both matches this past week, the lifelong Newcastle United fan showing what he can do and now linked with supposed interest from numerous clubs. Yet the reality is, if Elliot Anderson was still at NUFC and had produced those England performances, the vast majority of Newcastle fans would still choose to automatically have Tonali, Bruno and Joelinton playing ahead of Anderson.

That is how good our midfield trio are and whilst of course we would all have preferred Elliot Anderson to have stayed at NUFC, the truth is that he still wouldn’t be now getting regular starts. This is something that I think got a bit lost this summer when it came to the transfer window, just how difficult it is to now bring in players who are better, or even the same level, as the existing first choice players.

The likes of Aaron Ramsdale, Malick Thiaw and Jacob Ramsey are all very good players for me and are similar level to those we already have in their positions. Eddie Howe needed a proper squad with depth and this is what he has managed to put together this summer, despite the difficult circumstances.

No disrespect to Jacob Murphy but I think in Anthony Elanga, Eddie Howe has managed to upgrade our first eleven in that position AND in the process boost the quality of the back up, as Murphy is now that second option on the right.

Anthony Gordon and Harvey Barnes continue to give us great strength on the left side of the pitch.

Then of course we have the strikers.

Alexander Isak and Callum Wilson leaving, Yoane Wissa and Nick Woltemade coming in.

For most people this will be a simple counting up exercise.

In all competitions across the 2024/25 season, Wilson and Isak scored 28 goals between them.

How will Wissa and Woltemade now do, having replaced them?

Yoane Wissa (19) and Nick Woltemade (17) scored 36 goals between them last season, for Brentford and Stuttgart respectively.

Time will tell and I am not going to suddenly start rubbishing Alexander Isak, not for what he did on the pitch anyway! However, I do think that with Premier League proven Wissa and exciting new to the Premier League Woltemade, United are in a better position now in that striker position to take on such a massive season. Than they were with a fading age caught up with him and unable to stay fit Wilson, totally reliant on Isak and no obvious viable alternative to replace him during games and/or when he wasn’t available to play.

The opening three games were negatively impacted by the way this summer turned out but despite that, loads of promise in the performances against Villa and Liverpool, whilst Leeds was a tough away game where Eddie Howe had very limited options and just a case of get it out the way and move into the international break.

Eddie Howe his Newcastle United squad are now emerging from that international fortnight and now NUFC are in a position where they can now hit the ground running, get the season properly underway, starting with Wolves on Saturday.