Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ben Foster has been chatting to Troy Deeney about Newcastle’s strategy of slowly building their squad up.
The Magpies became the richest club on the planet one year ago, but rather than going out and signing the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Karim Benzema, the Tyneside club have built slowly and smartly.
Rather than going for the superstars, they’ve signed proven Premier League players, with Deeney and Foster rather impressed by the impact of Chris Wood and Dan Burn, stating that they’re solid professionals who are brilliant in the dressing room.
Solid additions
Foster and Deeney had good things to say about Burn and Wood.
“Dan Burn was a great signing, Chris Wood as well for what they did last year,” Deeney said.
“Just around the place, you need people like that, people like Wood and Burn, you need those lads, the solid professionals,” Foster said.
Building blocks
Newcastle will eventually be one of the best teams in Europe, that is almost inevitable, but this time last year their main goal was avoiding relegation.
Now, they could have done that by signing players from the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona, but would any of those perennial superstars have been up for a relegation battle? Perhaps not.
Meanwhile the likes of Burn and Wood were ready to fight tooth and nail for the club to save them last season, and now they’re desperate to prove their worth as the club push on to the next level.
Sometimes players do shock you and prove to be better than you ever imagined them being in the right environment – just look at how Pablo Zabaleta kicked on at Man City after their takeover, and Burn could be that sort of player for Newcastle.
Wood on the other hand isn’t getting as many chances, but as Foster says, his dressing room impact is likely valuable.
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