Newcastle United only brought in Nick Hammond as a transfer consultant back on December 17th, but he may have already left the club.
Hammond had been working at Celtic, first as a consultant before becoming head of football operations at Parkhead.
With Newcastle struggling to get a director of football in, Hammond was appointed as a consultant on December 17th in preparation for the January transfer window.
However, The Times now claim that Hammond’s tenure at Newcastle was ‘cut short’ – on December 24th.
That’s right, at least according to this report – Hammond lasted just a week at Newcastle before moving on.
Maybe that was the plan all along, but bringing in a consultant for just a week seems a strange decision for Newcastle.
That’s barely enough time to remember the names of new colleagues, never mind make a huge impact on transfer policy.
There does appear to be some confusion over these claims though.
The Chronicle reported on Friday January 14th – just two days ago at the time of writing – that Hammond was working hard with Steve Nickson and Eddie Howe to bring in new signings.
The Chronicle are pretty well-connected to Newcastle, so not hearing of Hammond’s exit before Christmas seems odd.
Hammond was never really for the long-term anyway. The plan all along has been to get a director of football in, with Dan Ashworth wanted at Newcastle.
Many at least thought Hammond would make it until the end of the January window or even towards the summer whilst Newcastle chase that director of football appointment.
Just a week is absolutely bizarre if true, with fans now possibly expecting an official statement on Hammond’s position with the club.
Newcastle have signed Kieran Trippier and Chris Wood this month but still need more new recruits this month.
Eddie Howe needs at least one more centre back as well as another striker, possibly even a left back.
It’s unclear just how much of an impact Hammond managed to have, if he has indeed left Newcastle already.
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