Eddie Howe and his Newcastle United signings.
Which are the ones he is to blame for?
Then also, which are the Newcastle United signings Eddie Howe shouldn’t be getting the blame for?
Let me take you back in time…
Just over 52 months ago, a huge moment.
On 7 January 2022, Kieran Trippier signed.
The England international seen as a massive scoop for Newcastle United, especially for only £12m.
Only months earlier, Trippier had helped Atletico Madrid win the league, with the full-back named in the 2020/21 La Liga team of the season.
Kieran Trippier had also followed up that La Liga title win with playing a key role in England getting to the 2020 Euros final (delayed from 2020 and played 2021 due to Covid).
How did United land such an amazing player as the first of the Newcastle United signings under the then recently installed new club owners, especially with relegation looking all but certain?
The answer? Eddie Howe.
Yes, Eddie Howe was/is to blame, as he would be for many many more brilliant Newcastle United signings.
The two knew each other well, Eddie Howe having signed Kieran Trippier back when he was managing Burnley.
The rest, as they say, is history…
January 2022 saw (As well as Kieran Trippier £12m) Eddie Howe sign Dan Burn (£13m), Bruno Guimaraes (£35m plus £6.25m potential add-ons), Chris Wood (£25m) and Matt Targett (loan).
Eddie Howe definitely to blame for all of those as well.
Summer 2022 and it was Nick Pope (£10m), Matt Targett (£12m), Sven Botman (£35m), Alexander Isak (£59m plus £4m add-ons).
January 2023 saw Eddie Howe adding Anthony Gordon (£40m plus £5m add-ons).
Summer 2023 it was Sandro Tonali (£55m), Harvey Barnes (£38m), Tino Livramento £32m plus £6m add-ons), Lewis Hall (loan and agreement to make permanent for £28m in summer 2024), Yankuba Minteh (£7m).
Yes, Eddie Howe for sure to blame for all of these.
January 2024 there were no significant signings.
Summer 2024 saw Odysseas Vlachodimos (£20m) and Will Osula (£10m plus potential £5m add-ons), Eddie Howe not allowed to bring in any first team contenders and due to the total mismanagement of the PSR situation by the Newcastle United owners, Howe forced to sell exciting young players Anderson and Minteh in order to generate an instant profit of more than £50m by 30 June 2024 to avoid PSR penalties.
January 2025 there were no significant signings.
Summer 2025 and Anthony Elanga (£52m plus £3m potential add-ons), Jacob Ramsey (£39m), Malick Thiaw (£30m plus £4m add-ons), Nick Woltemade (£65m plus £4.3m add-ons), Yoane Wissa (£55m) and Aaron Ramsdale (loan).
Crazy
In the crazy world we now live in, I see some fans wanting to put all the blame on Eddie Howe for what happened in summer 2025.
When in reality it was a total shambles due to the neglect and incompetence of the Newcastle United owners.
Was it Eddie Howe’s fault that there was no CEO or Sporting Director working at the club across summer 2025?
Was it his fault that the Newcastle United owners totally mismanaged the Alexander Isak situation? Insisting they were not going to sell the striker right across the summer window and then suddenly doing a u-turn and selling on deadline day.
Was it Eddie Howe to blame for the fact that only one summer 2025 signing arrived in time to have a pre-season with their new teammates? The reality is that Eddie Howe had his list of top transfer targets prepared before the end of the 2024/25 season and the NUFC owners failed to get most of these signings over the line, the owners failing on the business side of getting transfer deals done.
As for the six Newcastle United signings that did end up arriving in summer 2025…
Eddie Howe was to blame for three of them but not the other trio.
Anthony Elanga, Malick Thiaw and Jacob Ramsey were all long-term Eddie Howe targets. I think Thiaw has been an outstanding signing, Ramsey is also proving himself to be a very good signing and is getting better and better the more he plays, Elanga still has it all to do to prove himself with NUFC.
Eddie Howe wanted James Trafford but yet again the Newcastle United owners failed to get a deal completed. So Eddie Howe in the end forced to bring in Aaron Ramsdale on loan, a player he had bought and sold when at Bournemouth. I think Ramsdale has done okay as a loan signing, regardless of who you would ‘blame’ for signing him.
As for Nick Woltemade and Yoane Wissa, I don’t think they featured anywhere on Eddie Howe’s list of top transfer targets ahead of the summer 2025 transfer window. Eddie Howe wanted Joao Pedro and Hugo Ekitike, these were both long-term targets that he had wanted to sign previously but the club didn’t succeed in getting them. The same story last summer when the Newcastle United owners tried to get deals done but failed. A combination of those failures by the owners to get deals done and the mess they made of the Isak situation, led to a desperate scenario in the very final days of the summer 2025 window.
Eddie Howe had not had any senior strikers across the entire pre-season preparations and the same in the opening weeks of the 2025/26 season, Wissa had become a fallback position (especially if Isak did actually leave, or stayed and refused to play!), whilst little doubt for me that in those closing stages of the window it was a case of Eddie Howe offered the chance by the owners to sign Nick Woltemade or else nobody with such a late stage reached and which clubs are going to sell their key strikers with no chance to replace them??? We all know that Wissa has struggled to prove himself but that the serious injury he picked up was cruel bad luck, like Elanga he has it all to prove. With Big Nick, whoever you want to blame for his signing, I think it is laughable to think he has been some kind of disastrous buy. Just imagine if Eddie Howe had said no when he was offered the chance to get him late in the window? Wissa injured for the first half of the season and then struggling (Osula also ended up injured for most of the first half of the season), whilst Woltemade has managed 15 direct goal involvements (scoring 10 and five assists), despite the obvious difficulties presented by having an unorthodox striker arrive after the season has kicked off and with no pre-season, trying to get things to fit as a team. Especially when playing every midweek left next to no time for Eddie Howe to work on the training pitch.
Bottom line on however you judge the performances of Woltemade, Ramsdale and Wissa, is that this trio were in no way Eddie Howe’s top targets and a case of the Head Coach having to deal with a near impossible situation.
The truth is that four and a half years have proved that Eddie Howe’s judgment has been magnificent when it comes to judging Newcastle United signings overall post-takeover, plus of course Howe’s astonishing work with the players he inherited when coming into what looked a certain relegation scenario is mid-season (November 2021).