According to The Athletic, the signing of Chris Wood made things more difficult for Newcastle in the transfer market.
What’s the story?
Well, an agent has told The Athletic that Newcastle really ruined their negotiating position when spending £25m on the 30-year-old.
In particular, one executive from a European club Newcastle dealt with in January revealed that the signing of Wood proved the Magpies were lying.
Spending such a big sum on a 30-year-old showed that Newcastle had more money than they were suggesting, with the executive in question boldly stating that they weren’t going to let the Magpies take the “p***”.
That particular deal was completed on January 13th, so you can understand why the rest of the window proved to be quite difficult for Newcastle.
In truth, Amanda Staveley probably wishes she’d pursued that move a bit later on in the window, after other targets had been acquired.
Newcastle should’ve waited for Chris Wood
The Athletic believe the CAA Base agency offered Newcastle the chance to sign Wood, like they did with Kieran Trippier.
In our view, this deal should have been done later in the window, as the £25m sum was Wood’s release clause.
That could’ve been triggered on deadline day, and Burnley would’ve been powerless to stop him coming.
Had that happened, the Clarets also would’ve had little time to find a replacement.
As things happened, Sean Dyche signed Wout Weghorst to replace Wood, a man who scored 25 goals in all competitions last season.
While a striker was definitely needed as soon as possible, it would’ve been a wise move to delay the swoop for Wood.
Clearly, it had a huge impact on the rest of Newcastle’s business after January 13th.
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