The arrival of 20-year-old French midfielder Aladji Bamba from AS Monaco in a £34 million deal provides Eddie Howe with a gifted technician possessing certain similarities to Newcastle’s departing talisman.
At 20 years-old with limited senior experience, Bamba is far from the finished article and almost certainly won't have the same impact as Newcastle's skipper just yet - but the Toon Army are almost exclusively paying for potential.