Bazoumana Touré Signals Out With The Old In With The New

By all accounts Bazoumana Touré is a done deal with the young 20 year old's signing likely to be announced over the weekend or on Monday.

It marks the start of a dramatic shift in Newcastle's transfer policy, both out and in.

Old Recruitment Model Bites The Dust

Up until the start of last summer's transfer window the focus was on keeping the core together, retaining our best players, and adding in upgrades who could go straight into the first team.

That model was blown out of the window when Isak demanded a move and the club received a massive reality check as the top players targeted , one after another, chose to sign for the clubs we were trying to overhaul.

This is all old news now and has been debated into a cul-de-sac where it needs to stay.

Isak started the move and that has unravelled the blueprint of keeping our best players with Gordon and Tonali having already flown the nest and Bruno might yet soon follow.

Add in captain Kieran Trippier having also left and that isn't just ripping out the core, it's taking the pips with it as well.

New Recruitment Model Forced On The Club

After spending close to £250M last summer, albeit bringing in £125M for Isak, the club's transfer coffers at the end of last season weren't exactly bulging.

What made that situation worse was that, other than Malik Thiaw, none of the four signings accounting for £210M of that spend had any big effect in improving the first eleven.

Woltemade, Wissa, Elanga and Ramsey still have plenty to prove that they are players who can be part of a squad that challenges for a CL spot, or even a top 6 spot, this coming season.

Shorn of Isak, Gordon, Tonali, Trippier, and with Bruno a possibility, the squad looks way off the quality that won the Carabou Cup and qualified for the CL in season 24/25.

It needs a rebuild this summer, but the structure of that rebuild has been forced on the club rather than being part of the original development plan.

The quality core is being dismantled, a record signing and three established high cost PL players haven't yet taken us close to that 'next level', and we have aging former key players like Pope, Schar and Burn who, together with the departed Trippier, will need replacing sooner than later.

CEO Hopkinson stated when he came in that top players might have to be sold due to PSR to aid the recruitment process - but I doubt either he nor us fans thought that three, and possibly four, of our elite players would leave in less than 12 months.

That has forced a change of policy on the club, namely to recruit younger players from overseas with big potential, lower fees, and lower wages than last summer's top targets.

The reality is, unless the club can somehow conjure up a massive explosion in revenue, we will now become a club that may have to sell a top player a year to keep that conveyor belt of new high potential young players coming in.

c£60M Spent On Two 20 Year Olds

Goalkeeper Ewen Jaouen at £18M and soon to be announced winger Bazoumana Touré at £42M are the clearest signal that the new recruitment model has been rubber stamped by the club.

The next target prime target is rumoured to be Swiss midfielder Johan Manzambi, another 20 year old, whose form at the WC has apparently pushed his fee up to north of £50M - a fee that might yet be a stretch too far for the Toon.

What makes this new transfer policy so different from the last one is, Manzambi apart if he signs, Jaouen and Toure are unlikely to be considered as first team starters with Pope and Barnes expected to take the two respective places.

Alan Hansen famously said "You can't win anything with kids" only to be proved wrong when Man Utd won the league with then youngsters David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville, Phil Neville, and Nicky Butt.

If Newcastle are to repeat anywhere that success with the 20-22 year olds we are targeting we'll need to unearth ready cut and polished diamonds, not rough ones.

Last Summer's Signings Need To Step Up

We can look forward to seeing how the new signings pan out...

But let's not forget Woltemade, Wissa, Elanga and Ramsey.

£210M was laid out for those four and not one them came close to nailing down a starting place and Wissa and Elanga especially did nowt to justify their fees.

My view before the end of last season was that Eddie had big decisions to make on Woltemade, Wissa and Elanga. Did he believe they could come good?

If not, as painful as the fee hit might be, there would be no point in keeping them.

If they are all here when the new season kicks off, and they produce the same form as they ended last season, then Eddie has to take full responsibility.

They have been here for a year and will have a full pre-season.

They need to step up, quickly, and big time.

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