As Newcastle United ended last season on a high and waited patiently for the result of the FA Cup final to confirm their European status, attention was already being directed towards the upcoming transfer window. Eddie Howe knew even back then, in late May, that the summer would be the ‘hardest yet’ for his side.
Eddie Howe said “Going into last summer, I had a vision and the reality was different at the end, but I was really pleased at the end when the window shut, I was like, ‘We have done some really good work here.’ That’s going to need to be repeated. This will be our hardest window to date. In my mind, there is no doubt about that because the pool of players we have to select from is very small.”
Fast forward to the opposite end of the summer and it seems Howe got it bang on. This has been the hardest to date since he took the reins at St James’ Park – and, as such, Newcastle are heading into the final 24 hours of the window needing to pull a rabbit out of the hat to save their summer.