Newcastle United new recruitment chief has already completed £99m transfer masterstroke
Newcastle United transfers: Tomas Amaral has been confirmed as Newcastle’s new head of first team recruitment.
What will Tomas Amaral bring to Newcastle United as the club’s new head of first team recruitment?
The 35-year-old replaces Steve Nickson, who left his role at Newcastle after 15 years with the club to join Championship side Wrexham as sporting director.
Amaral will be tasked with working alongside Newcastle’s sporting director Ross Wilson and the recruitment team to identify first-team talent and expand the club’s network across key territories.
Amaral’s last club was Russian side Spartak Moscow, where he worked as sporting director in 2024. Prior to that, he spent four-and-a-half years at Benfica, where he helped unearth some future stars as a senior scout.
He also worked at Real Valladolid, SD Eibar and Granada CF as a first-team scout.
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£99m transfer profit in five months
Possibly one of the most exceptional transfers in recent times saw Enzo Fernandez join Chelsea for £107million in January 2023, just five months after he joined Benfica from River Plate for £8million.
Amaral was part of the Benfica recruitment team that signed Fernandez in a deal that would ultimately see Benfica make a £99million profit in record time. The midfielder’s departure to join Chelsea came after an impressive 2022 World Cup campaign where he helped Argentina win the competition, winning the ‘best young player’ award in the process.
Fernandez has since joined Manchester City for £125million over the summer, making him the most expensive midfielder of all time and the first player ever to be subject to two sales in excess of £100million.
During Amaral’s time at Benfica, the club also signed and sold Darwin Nunez for a significant profit. The Uruguayan striker joined from Almeira for £21million in 2020 before being sold to Liverpool two years later for £62million.
While Nunez often flattered to deceive at Liverpool, he did prove to be a thorn in Newcastle’s side in August 2023 as he came off the bench to score twice late on to secure a 2-1 win for the Reds at St James’ Park.
Ross Wilson’s ‘player trading’ strategy
Amaral’s track record of successfully trading players complements the strategy of player trading Wilson has previously highlighted as essential to Newcastle’s success.
“If you want to be a successful club in the Premier League, you have to trade players,” Wilson said last month. “And if you don't, chances are you won't be a successful club in the Premier League, particularly where the revenues of this club are in a phase where David and his team are making those revenues really, really grow.
“But without that, if you don't trade players, you're going to get stuck.”