Newcastle United are miles away from being an elite Premier League side - as demonstrated again by a 5-0 thrashing at Manchester City on Sunday.
But optimism that they soon will be has been hyped by 10pc stake-holder Amanda Staveley who said on day one the aim was to win the league in five to 10 years. And new signing Bruno Guimaraes is on record as saying he’s on Tyneside to win things. So another massive transfer splurge this summer, to match the £94m spent in January, is on the cards then?
Maybe not. Listen carefully and you hear Eddie Howe preaching “evolution” rather than “revolution. And yesterday after the hammering by City he talked about having to be “smart” in the transfer market. That could be expectation management and a bluff to keep prices down. Or it could be that Newcastle have to sell well and have a small budget to add to sale proceeds, to rebuild.
