Back-to-back defeats against Liverpool and Manchester City have shown just how far Newcastle United have to go to match the elite. It’s no surprise, both have spent years spending huge amounts of money on world-class players tailored to the philosophies of their world-class managers. They are miles ahead of everyone else in the league, not just the Magpies.
But it is Newcastle who have the financial clout to get there. The Saudi-backed takeover in October made them the richest club in world football by some way, and their £90 million January window proved that the hierarchy are both willing and able to spend big money.
That investment went a long way to securing the club’s status as a Premier League team - a status that is now a surety following Leeds United’s 3-0 defeat at home to Chelsea on Wednesday. But those defeats to the Premier League title challengers were not write-offs, rather a chance for Amanda Staveley and her team to see exactly where the money needs to be spent in order to challenge for European football in the near future.
