Newcastle won't get anywhere with pursuit of washed up stars like Hazard

Stefan Bienkowski

• 3 Dec 2021 17:43 GMT
• 8 min read

Newcastle United may have all the money in the world but that won’t get them very far if they don’t use it wisely.

The history of football is littered with broken egos and doomed projects that started with a flurry of excitement and promise when a rich individual or corporation bought over a football club, only to run it into the ground when they realised that their own hubris would only go so far.

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Newcastle fans may not be asking for the world, but their new owners certainly will and if any of the proposed moves do end up coming to fruition in January then the Premier League’s other clubs may not have too much to worry about.

Hazard would be a terrible signing

Undoubtedly, the most obvious example of money leapfrogging common sense can be found in the constant reports linking Real Madrid forward Eden Hazard with a move to St James’ Park.

The most recent rumours, which come from El Nacional, now suggest that the club are prepared to offer €40 million for the Belgium international. Even though he's only worth around around €25 million.

Signed by Madrid in 2019 for just under £104 million, the Belgium international has come to represent a catastrophic waste of money for the Spanish giants as constant injuries have limited Hazard’s contributions to the club to just 53 appearances - the vast majority of which being late substitutions in matches - over the course of the last two and a half seasons.

Indeed, Hazard’s stock has fallen so low in the Spanish capital that new manager Carlo Ancelotti feels perfectly comfortable explaining why he doesn’t start the club’s second most expensive player ever and openly suggests that the winger should move on if at all possible.

And yet, this seems to be the player Newcastle’s new owners have earmarked to be the poster boy of their new regime. An overpaid, underperforming star of yesteryear that would likely struggle to help the first team squad at all. A clear indication that style is far more important than substance to the club’s new owners.

Newcastle could take a page out of Man City’s book

Instead of chasing star players, Newcastle would strike fear into the hearts of their domestic rivals by spending money on proven, talented squad players that could improve the overall quality and depth of the entire team.

As Manchester City have done for a number of years, prioritising transfer budgets on £50m defenders and midfielders rather than extravagant forwards that may cost closer to £200m is how you really build a team capable of moving up the league table and challenge for silverware.

Newcastle’s spending will undoubtedly alter the very nature of the January transfer window, but if they spend the month snapping up washed up stars instead of doing the dull legwork needed to put together a proper squad, their Premier League rivals will have nothing to worry about.