With Financial Fair Play constraints to take into account and the margins between success and failure in football becoming smaller and smaller every season, clubs across the world can’t afford too many mistakes in the transfer market.
One bad transfer window could impact not only the forthcoming season, but have ramifications in years to come.
Newcastle, with dreams of breaking into football’s elite, certainly cannot afford to make too many, if any, mistakes in their recruitment this summer.
To do that, they will certainly want to avoid some major mistakes they have made in the transfer market in the not too distant past.
Here, in order of when they joined the club, we take a look at 16 of Newcastle United’s worst signings of the last decade.
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9. Matz Sels
Sels was signed by Rafa Benitez from Gent ahead of their 2016/17 Championship season. Initially brought in to be No.1, Sels had a few shaky performances early into his Newcastle United career and played just 14 times for the club before joining Anderlecht after one season on Tyneside. Photo: Stu Forster
10. Achraf Lazaar
Lazaar joined Newcastle from Palermo in 2016 to add a bit of flair to Benitez’s side. However, he featured just nine times in his first campaign before moving back to Italy in summer 2017. Photo: Stu Forster
11. Islam Slimani
Newcastle were in desperate need of a striker during their first season back in the Premier League and moved for Slimani during the January transfer window. The Algerian was unfit when he joined, made very little impact save for an assist for Matt Ritchie’s winner against Arsenal, before a suspension ended his time on Tyneside prematurely. Photo: Stu Forster
12. Kenedy
It may seem harsh for Kenedy to be on this list considering a lot of Newcastle fans were clamouring for the club to break their transfer record to sign the Brazilian after his initial loan spell. However, his second season was a disaster, scoring just once in 25 Premier League appearances. Photo: Michael Regan