Thursday, March 28

Chris Wood to Newcastle for £ 25m Shows Saudis Have a Priority | Newcastle united


THEVerpriced panic buying, transformational stroke of genius, or something in between? In late May, when Newcastle visit Turf Moor for their last Premier League game of the season, the answer should be obvious.

At the time when Yasir al-Rumayyan agreed to activate the £ 25 million release clause in Chris Wood’s contract at Burnley, the Newcastle president emphasized that, at the moment, his club has only one priority.

Paying a lot of money for a 30-year-old forward who has scored three goals in 18 appearances this season, Rumayyan indicated that, to avoid relegation, the Saudi-controlled club will press all available buttons and flip all possible switches. Short-term thinking is no longer taboo.

Furthermore, even if the price dictates that it is extremely difficult to have envisioned another top-tier team activating Wood’s release clause, the New Zealand center forward could be an excellent addition to Eddie Howe’s team.

Wood’s perhaps surprisingly eclectic musical taste encompasses Kings of Leon, Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra in various ways, and Howe must be confident that his formidable aerial presence will bring a similar breadth and diversity to a struggling, often one-dimensional Newcastle XI. .

The coach, having tried to start tackling this problem by paying up to £ 15 million to transplant English right-back Kieran Trippier from Atlético Madrid to Tyneside last week, needed a center forward to connect with Trippier’s centers.

That forward was supposed to be Callum Wilson, a generally impressive player during a season when Newcastle won a game, against Burnley, but calf problems will sideline Wilson for eight weeks.

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Newcastle have paid up to £ 15 million for Kieran Trippier, 31, and hope Chris Wood can connect with the right-back centers.
Newcastle have paid up to £ 15 million for Kieran Trippier, 31, and hope Chris Wood can connect with the right-back centers. Photograph: MI News / NurPhoto / Rex / Shutterstock

His injury put Howe under immense pressure, forcing him to reorder recruiting priorities, and the need for central defenders was suddenly seen as less important than acquiring Wood in time for the six-point relegation that would potentially define the season. Saturday at Watford.

Few experts would say Wood is a match for Wilson, but he has scored 10 or more goals in each of the last four seasons for Burnley, a not inconsiderable achievement for a team that is often on the defensive.

Equally important, his removal from the Turf Moor equation at a time when Maxwel Cornet, Sean Dyche’s most talented attacker, represents Côte d’Ivoire at the African Cup of Nations, could have a disastrous effect on Burnley’s hopes of survival. . With three from Norwich, Newcastle, Burnley and Watford showing up heading to the Championship, he could effectively rescue Howe’s team.

Much depends on Dyche’s ability to quickly and successfully reinvest Wood’s millions, but he will not be an easy replacement and there are fears that Cornet will suffer from not being able to play Leeds’ former target man. It’s no wonder Burnley’s manager is seemingly incandescent over the departure of his No. 9. Or that Norwich isn’t overly excited about letting their midfielder Todd Cantwell move to St James’ Park.

Wood invariably operated as part of both Dyche fronts, usually deployed alongside Cornet or Ashley Barnes, and with Howe interested in setting Newcastle at 4-4-2, a partnership with the more improvising Allan Saint-Maximin may draw out. shine the best in the recently disappointing French.

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Can Chris Wood get more out of the recently disappointing Allan Saint-Maximin (left)?
Can Chris Wood get more out of the recently disappointing Allan Saint-Maximin (left)? Photograph: Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA / Getty Images

If one of Wood’s key roles will be polishing crosses, often from Trippier, his ability to hold the ball, press from the front and intimidate defenders into submission can only strengthen a Newcastle team that has scored modest scores. 19 goals.

Once Wilson is in shape, it is not inconceivable that he will be able to play alongside Wood; After all, the former did well in a large role during a brief flirtation with a split forward system that featured Miguel Almirón as a false nine under Steve Bruce last season.

At the time, Mike Ashley owned Newcastle and the retail mogul actively pursued a policy of buying primarily players under 25 who possessed strong resale potential. It’s impossible to imagine Ashley sanctioning the signing of Wood, much less the 31-year-old Trippier, but that lack of speculation to accumulate largely explains why the club was relegated twice under his tenure.

Even if Wood loses his starting job with Wilson’s return, it will still be considered money well spent if he helps Newcastle avoid the fate they suffered in 2009 and 2016.

Should the worst happen, Trippier and Wood are players expected to excel at the second level, helping to secure promotion on the first try, but no one at St James’ Park wants to contemplate that possibility. When, last October, the Saudi Public Investment Fund bought an 80% majority stake in a club owned jointly by minority shareholders Amanda Staveley and Reuben Brothers, it certainly did not envision suffering the spectacular loss of face in the Middle East that would accompany descent.

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At a time when Paris St-Germain and Manchester City are thriving under the control of the Gulf neighbors of Saudi Arabia in Qatar and the emirate of Abu Dhabi respectively, such a calamity would not be remotely welcome in Riyadh and Jeddah. The soccer championship was never supposed to be part of the geopolitical soft power playbook.

Back at Turf Moor, Burnley’s staff and players are disappointed, if not completely betrayed, by Wood’s defection to a direct rival capable of damaging his future livelihood.

Howe, Rumayyan and Staveley should expect him to display similar cruelty in front of goal.


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