By admin 
Newcastle United have endured a disastrous start to the 23/24 Premier League campaign, suffering three consecutive defeats against Manchester City, Liverpool and Brighton.
Despite being put through a poor string of results, it is unable to knock the gloss off what has been a tremendous two years at St James’ Park.
From surviving relegation in 2021/22 to qualifying for the Champions League a season later, the Saudi revolution, spearheaded by the managerial expertise of Eddie Howe, has helped propel the Magpies back towards the league’s elite, a position they were familiar with during the late ’90s and early 00s.
With a European campaign on the horizon, excitement is building and to fuel that, Newcastle have brought in players they think can help them navigate through their group of death that includes Paris Saint-Germain, Borussia Dortmund, and AC Milan.
Who did Newcastle sign this summer?
Central midfielder Sandro Tonali was brought in for £55m from the latter of those clubs to provide Champions League quality in the heart of their midfield, while Harvey Barnes and Tino Livramento were snapped up from relegated clubs Leicester and Southampton with left-back Lewis Hall arriving from Chelsea.
Although Newcastle have improved several areas of their squad, a recent injury to Sven Botman highlighted their lack of depth at centre-back and despite him being in line to return following the international break, lack of improvement in this position has seen them get exposed defensively.
With seven goals shipped in their first four fixtures, the Premier League’s joint-best defence last season is plummeting under the weight of increased pressure, perhaps making them regret not snapping up their top two centre back targets, Antonio Silva and Edmond Tapsoba.
While Newcastle could continue to regret that decision, especially with more matches to be played this season, it isn’t the only time that the Magpies have missed out on signing their top target having failed to land Moises Caicedo during the Steve Bruce era in 2021.
Did Newcastle nearly sign Moises Caicedo?
Indeed, Chelsea broke the British recorded transfer fee by signing Caicedo for £115m from Brighton this summer but there was a time when Newcastle could have signed him for a bargain price of just £4.5m.
Indeed, when the North East club were monitoring his performances in the Copa Libertadores at Independent del Valle, the Seagulls swooped for the 19-year-old and on the William Hill’s Tippy Tappy Football podcast, Bruce explained why they lost out in the race to sign him.