Newcastle PIF signings ranked: Guimaraes above Isak, Tonali, Gordon; PSR shambles bottom | OneFootball

When Newcastle United get it right in the transfer market, they absolutely smash it. But when they get it wrong, boy, do they get it wrong.

For all of the difficult sales over the last two years, Newcastle have been strongly backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), with over £650m spent on new signings.

Amid another busy summer of change for the Magpies, including in the managerial department, we have revisited our ranking of every signing made in the PIF era, excluding those purchased in the 2026 summer transfer window.

24) Odysseas Vlachodimos (£20m)

A necessary evil in the eyes of Newcastle and Nottingham Forest was the transfer business they conducted together in 2024. It was all about avoiding breaching Premier League Profit and Sustainability rules.

The bottom line is that this goes down as a £20m signing in the history books, and paying £20m for a third-choice goalkeeper is beyond stupid.

23) Yoane Wissa (£55m)

Newcastle’s worst signing last summer was Wissa, and it was comfortably Wissa, despite there being at least three catastrophically bad deals.

Amid all of the Alexander Isak-to-Liverpool drama, there was another tedious saga involving Wissa and Newcastle that also rumbled all the way into the final hours of deadline day. Wissa was reportedly told by Brentford that he could leave for around £30m, but after several key personnel left, they almost doubled their demands and, instead of walking away, Newcastle coughed up £55m to avoid being left short in attack.

Wissa was a fantastic player for Brentford, but £55m for a player valued significantly less just months earlier, on the brink of turning 29, was a big risk. A knee injury suffered before making his Magpies debut only made things more difficult and, when Wissa returned, he never really got going.

It was a risky investment that has not come close to paying off.

22) Anthony Elanga (£55m)

Elanga and Wissa have been equally as disappointing on the pitch, but Elanga, 24, is five years younger. Not only does Elanga have a better chance of improving as he approaches his prime years, he also has sell-on value, unlike his Congolese teammate.

After a promising World Cup with Sweden, we have some unexpected optimism that Elanga could have a fruitful campaign under new head coach Matthias Jaissle.

21) Nick Woltemade (£73m)

Another striker tasked with replacing Isak, Woltemade actually hit the ground running with a debut-winning goal against Wolves and four goals in his first five games. One league goal in the second half of the season was only the tip of the iceberg in what quickly became a disastrous debut campaign for the big German.

Eddie Howe didn’t know how to utilise Woltemade, moving him from centre-forward to the No. 10 role and then even deeper. He simply didn’t fit in, and the sheer uncertainty about his position – not even his ability, but what his best position is – makes Woltemade such a disappointing signing for a lot of money.

The positive is that Woltemade has a new manager who could get the best out of him, and he is only 24 years old. We are not writing him off, but it’s a case of, so far, so bad.

20) Matt Targett (£15m)

At long last, Targett has officially left Newcastle. After spending 2025/26 on loan at Middlesbrough, he has joined newly-promoted Hull City on a permanent deal.

Targett impressed at Boro and looks a solid addition for the Tigers, but he never really made an impact at Newcastle.

At the time of his £15m signing, he felt like a sensible addition as the Magpies looked to consolidate their Premier League status. He certainly won’t go down as a terrible buy, despite making only 23 Premier League starts for the club.

19) John Ruddy (free)

Former Premier League goalkeepers the streets might well have forgotten about are quite trendy among big clubs these days. Newcastle hopped on the bandwagon with the addition of John Ruddy in 2024. He racked up a grand total of zero competitive minutes for the Magpies and recently left to become a free agent.

18) Aaron Ramsdale (loan)

Ramsdale was signed on loan to usurp Nick Pope as Howe’s first-choice goalkeeper, but he failed to do so.

It was a very disappointing year for the former Arsenal goalkeeper, who is back at Championship side Southampton and likely looking to join another Premier League club.

17) Chris Wood (£25m)

Wood only scored two Premier League goals for Newcastle in the second half of 2021/22 after signing from Burnley mid-season, but they both came in one-goal victories. More importantly, the signing of Wood essentially relegated the Clarets and changed them from Sean Dyche’s Burnley to Vincent Kompany’s Burnley, which worked in the Championship, but not in the Premier League.

Wood left Newcastle for Nottingham Forest a year after joining, initially signing on loan before joining permanently for around £15m. He struggled for a while, but a hat-trick away to Newcastle, of all teams, seemed to spark something in him nobody knew was lying dormant.

Wood was electric last season, scoring 20 goals in 36 appearances as Forest narrowly missed out on Champions League football.

16) Jacob Ramsey (£39m)

Ramsey’s first year at Newcastle was bitterly disappointing, but we saw more promise from him than Elanga and Wissa combined.

With Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton expected to follow Sandro Tonali out of St James’ Park this month, Ramsey has a great opportunity to stamp his authority as the starting No. 10 in Jaissle’s team.

15) Yankuba Minteh (£6m)

There is one major positive that outweighs all of the negatives: £24m profit, baby.

Newcastle reluctantly sold Minteh – signed from Odense Boldklub for £6m in June 2023 – to Brighton two summers ago for £30m as the club’s hierarchy feared a potential PSR breach. This was a transfer that frustrated fans given Howe’s need for a new right-sided forward, but Minteh was not missed thanks to Jacob Murphy exceeding expectations in 2024/25.

Howe certainly could have done with Minteh last term as Murphy’s numbers declined and Elanga flopped.

14) Lloyd Kelly (free)

The major positive here outweighs all of the negatives: pure profit, baby.

Kelly joined from Bournemouth on a Bosman in 2024 but failed to impress before earning a bizarre move to Juventus. Surprisingly, he has done very well in Italy.

13) Harvey Barnes (£38m)

We don’t think Harvey Barnes (it’s the law that you have to say his full name every time) has been a rubbish signing; his spot here simply emphasises how well Newcastle have spent under their Saudi Arabian owners… up until last summer.

He has been hot and cold for much of his Magpies career but Harvey Barnes has been in and out of the team – which, believe it or not, prevents players from finding rhythm, gaining confidence, reaching peak match fitness, endearing themselves to the fans and understanding the tactics being deployed. Or, in other words: staying hot.

12) William Osula (£10m)

Osula has started to come good and has done a better job of filling Isak’s boots than either Wissa or Woltemade.

He is an awkward player, and that is kind of his charm. His goal against Manchester United was sublime.

11) Malick Thiaw (£31m)

Last summer was a bloody disaster, but Thiaw was actually a pretty decent signing, as underlined by his respectable placement here.

The German centre-back has the potential to become one of the Premier League’s best defenders and, after playing a lot of football alongside different teammates last season, being in a more settled XI can only do him good.

After a decent debut campaign, Thiaw should kick on in 2026/27.

10) Tino Livramento (£30m)

Livramento actually looks more comfortable at left-back than in his natural right-back role, but Lewis Hall remains the more convincing option there, meaning he is set to start 2026/27 as Jaissle’s first-choice right-back.

There is a strong chance Livramento leaves before the transfer window closes, however, amid interest from Manchester City and Arsenal. Regardless of where he is playing his football this season, the England international will go down as a very good signing, even if he is rather injury-prone.

9) Nick Pope (£10m)

Another shrewd signing was the addition of Pope from Burnley in the summer of 2022, landing him on a cut-price fee with only a year left on his contract with the relegated side.

Pope might not be the most convincing with the ball at his feet, but he is undoubtedly a very solid goalkeeper and has been crucial since the start of 2022/23.

His low transfer fee is doing a lot of the heavy lifting because we haven’t been entirely convinced by Pope over the last two years.

8) Sven Botman (£34m)

Injuries have really derailed Sven Botman’s Newcastle career, missing 18 games in the first half of 2023/24 before tearing his ACL in March of that season. The 25-year-old was out for over a year and has struggled to stay fit since returning, suffering another two knee injuries to rule him out for an extended period in 2024/25.

If he can rediscover the level he reached in 2022/23, Botman will once again establish himself as one of the Premier League’s best centre-backs.

7) Dan Burn (£12m)

Big Dan Burn is a cult hero at St James’ Park. The boy from Blyth scored in the Carabao Cup final victory over Liverpool and was one of Howe’s most consistent performers, excelling at left-back, centre-back and as the left-sided centre-back in a back three. To be honest, the fact he is competent at left-back is a mystery; he’s bloody huge and hardly the most technically gifted defender in the world, or even the top 50.

For a very respectable £12m, Burn has been an outstanding signing.

6) Lewis Hall (£28m)

Hall has been very important and impressive for Newcastle. He barely played in his first season, which was awfully confusing after joining on loan from Chelsea with an obligation to buy for £28m. Hall’s lack of playing time sparked rumours that he wouldn’t join permanently, but it was never in doubt, and what a signing he has been.

5) Sandro Tonali (£52m)

What a player. Newcastle recently sold Tonali to Tottenham for a £40m profit. He will be a huge miss, but it was probably for the best.

4) Anthony Gordon (£45m)

Howe was apparently the only person on the planet aware of Anthony Gordon’s talent when Newcastle shelled out £45m to sign him from Everton in January 2023. Turns out he is a brilliant footballer and the vast majority of us were wrong to be baffled by the decision.

Gordon registered 39 goals and 28 assists in 152 appearances for Newcastle before making a dream move to Barcelona earlier this summer.

3) Kieran Trippier (£12m)

Trippier was the first big name through the door under the new Saudi regime and led by example from day one.

He recently left St James’ Park following the expiry of his contract, bringing an end to four-and-a-half superb years at the club.

2) Alexander Isak (£60m)

One of the best strikers in world football, Isak left Newcastle in acrimonious circumstances last summer, joining Liverpool for a British-record £125m fee after a long and painful transfer saga that hindered both the Magpies and the Swede, with both making a sluggish start to the season.

Isak scored 53 Premier League goals in 83 appearances after netting 33 in 105 La Liga matches for Real Sociedad. He also delivered several crucial goals on the road to Carabao Cup glory and, at the time of his departure, we said he was the one player in this Newcastle team who was truly irreplaceable. As this ranking proves, we were spot on.

1) Bruno Guimaraes (£39m)

Guimaraes has been one of the best midfielders in England since his marquee move from Lyon in January 2022 and instantly became a fan favourite at St James’.

The Brazil international has developed into a player capable of walking into almost any starting XI in world football, so interest from Arsenal comes as no surprise.

Guimaraes leaving Newcastle will be difficult for supporters to take, but it is hard to blame him after the club’s disastrous 2025/26 campaign.