The Mag
·8 Juli 2025
Anthony Elanga arriving, Callum Wilson leaving – YouTubers and Social Media ‘experts’ take note

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Yahoo sportsThe Mag
·8 Juli 2025
There have been some magnificent, memorable moments in the past few years for Newcastle United fans.
Many of the best of those moments centred around the weekend of 16th March 2025 and the events at Wembley.
It is an occurrence from that day that will spring to mind, whenever I think back on Callum Wilson’s time at Newcastle, time which was confirmed to be at an end today (Monday 7 July).
The moment in question comes from the many hours of footage I sought out in the aftermath of the Carabao Cup final.
A backstage cam watches the victorious Newcastle United team make their way back to their Wembley changing room. When Callum Wilson passes the camera, he grabs the winners medal around his neck and announces “From the relegation battle, to this.”
This sums up the contribution of Wilson and many others, as he is one of a clutch of players that transcends the bad old days and the good times.
Callum Wilson joined a Newcastle side flailing under the Ashley regime, when other offers existed. His goals were critical to keeping United afloat, both during the second Bruce season and the transformative takeover year as United evolved from pointless also-rans into a renaissance side aiming for greater things.
Many of the relegation fighters left over the next few years, to little or no fanfare, but the ones that stuck it out delivered for Newcastle in a different way. Top six finishes, Champions League and the tangible reward from that day at Wembley. I was pleased to see Wilson with his medal, along with others such as Schar, Joelinton and Dubravka, who had all dug in for us in darker times and still been able to play a part in better days.
I will remember Wilson’s 48 goals and 11 assists from his first four years at United as reasons why he was an outstanding number nine. His final season, let’s be honest, fell short of expectation as back and hamstring injuries meant he was barely seen until mid-February. This may have been costly, as the Wilson we all know would have been a stellar backup to the prolific Isak, able to relieve him in the latter stages of games, come on alongside him when the need was there (it worked when it happened) or stand in when Wor Alex started feeling that pesky groin. His absence meant we had to experiment, or play Isak to the point of exhaustion, and maybe the lack of this option saw a few points slip away over time. The fact we got the Champions League and our trophy means it likely didn’t matter.
On his return it, became apparent that Callum Wilson wasn’t quite his old self, as he struggled to get going in minimal appearances. His two contributions of note for me were obviously his only goal of the season at Birmingham and a solid late cameo that day at Wembley. As things got hairy in injury time, Wilson did a fine job of keeping the ball at the safe end of the pitch, settling it as the clock ran down and playing his part in earning that elusive medal.
I choose to remember this and the other many positives and I hope that will be the general response.
There seems to be a breed of Newcastle United fans emerging that delights in being hyper-critical, irrespective of context, like they’re projecting what a high-achieving elite they themselves are, deserving and demanding of only the finest players known to humanity. Foolish comments about wanting United to be in for the extortionately paid, well-established names of world football show that they simply haven’t added two thoughts together. A Little Britain style “want that one” at a Grealish or Rashford will wilfully ignore the totally unsuitable profile of such players and the impact on United’s finely balanced PSR. No doubt the concept of signing a Livramento or Hall and growing them into a class player will be dismissed by many of these undersubscribed YouTube channels or anonymous Twitter accounts.
It’s this dismissive and ungracious attitude that may reflect on Wilson, as some choose to focus on his later shortcomings over his stellar contribution to two different phases of critical development for Newcastle United.
It’s this dismissive also fails to add up two different thoughts should we turn to Dominic Calvert-Lewin as the Wilson alternative. Yes he has had his own injury problems but people need to realise that putting forward names like Gyokeres or Vlahovic is the stuff of fantasy. Any striker we bring in is coming to play second fiddle to Alexander Isak and those blokes would both be unwilling to accept such a role and too costly to deploy in this capacity.
DCL would, if able to recapture his prime form at Everton, be an able deputy both in terms of covering Isak for the final periods of games, coming in should we go with two up-front and, at a push, a feasible alternative should the unthinkable happen and Isak is out for any period of time (I really don’t like that groin business). This is all underpinned by the fact he is free and if the experiment was a failure, any subsequent sale would be total profit. My only possible issues would be if his wage demands were unreasonable when comparable with the rest of the squad, or if such a move stymied the development of Osula, who looks like he’s coming on a bundle. Despite this, we need forward reinforcements and this would be a gamble worth taking in my opinion.
If talks regarding Dominic Calvert-Lewin are being kept quiet for fear of upsetting the bed wetters, that’s just tragic, sneaking the signing in under cover of Anthony Elanga’s more prestigious announcement or whatever.
You’d think folk would have learned to trust the tremendous hit rate we’ve had on transfers despite being hundreds of millions in income behind our main rivals. Maybe check your passports are in date and remind me what’s that in the cabinet at St James’ Park?
As players begin to filter in for pre-season training, it’s getting a bit antsy, as I’d have liked some new signings to have started their settling-in process as part of this.
When Anthony Elanga and the other new blokes arrive (and they will) there is surely cause for optimism after what has gone before. Hopefully people are set to arrive who will ultimately have served us as well as Callum Wilson and his peers at the other end of the journey.
Langsung