Eddie Howe would love to sign another Aaron Ramsdale in the future but the Newcastle United head coach has admitted that bringing in raw young players with 'potential' is not his priority right now.
The Newcastle head coach will come up against the former Bournemouth 'keeper when the Magpies welcome Arsenal to St James' Park on Monday night. It was Howe, of course, who signed Ramsdale for the Cherries for an initial fee in the region of £800,000 in 2017 when the shot-stopper was just 18 years of age.
Bournemouth had tracked Ramsdale's progress at Sheffield United for a couple of years before making a bid for the youngster and it was actually Howe's nephew, Andy, the club's then head of domestic player scouting, who recommended him. The younger Howe noted how Ramsdale ticked a number of boxes, technically, with his confidence in playing out from the back for Sheffield United's under-21s. The talent spotter was also encouraged by how Ramsdale responded to making an error and how the teenager fared when he stepped up with the Blades' first team.
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It took time for Ramsdale to realise his potential at Bournemouth - the 'keeper missed the bus for a Carabao Cup quarter-final against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge before maturing on loan at Chesterfield and AFC Wimbledon - but he went on to become the Cherries' number one at the age of just 21. The England international returned to Sheffield United for £18.5m in 2020 before joining Arsenal last summer for a fee that could rise to £30m.
Andy Howe, meanwhile, has since followed his uncle to Newcastle as the club's head of first-team technical scouting so are these the sorts of players the Magpies could one day look at? As ambitious as Newcastle are, the black-and-whites have to comply with the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules, after all.
"We signed him for less than a million pounds, but there was a long wait for Aaron to be the player that he is now," Howe told reporters. "There were several loan spells and, then, of course, he's moved onto Sheffield United and then to Arsenal.
"Whenever you sign a player that is potential, you have to be very patient and be prepared to wait two, three, four years before that potential flourishes into your team. From my recent experiences, sometimes, there is a lack of patience from everyone connected with football. They want the readymade product now.
"That is definitely an avenue and one of the things I'd love to do: to sign young players, develop them and work with them on the training ground to try and help them reach their potential. You need the facilities to do that, you need the squad size and the readymade players in their position to allow them to flourish behind the scenes.
"That is certainly something we will look at in the future but I wouldn't say, at this moment in time, that's necessarily high on my list of the things we need to do."
Howe was keen to bring in Premier League experience in his first window in charge, last January, and that remains the case this summer. However, the Newcastle head coach is also conscious of the need to reduce the average age of his squad given that the majority of the individuals at his disposal are 28 or older and players in their twenties from abroad will also be targeted.
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