13 Jan 2026 21:16:51
Is there a possibility we don't sign anyone this window due to the concerns surrounding Slot and also on the capabilities of Richard Hughes if we are led to believe he might be replaced in the summer?
13 Jan 2026 22:04:47
Why would there be concerns about Hughes? He persuaded players to sign for us over Madrid, Bayern, City. He persuaded Isak to push for a move to us despite being a legend at Newcastle. He did a brilliant job in the summer. We haven't hit the ground running but you can't argue with the quality of the players Hughes signed.
13 Jan 2026 22:04:54
I'd leave everything till summer now. Seasons over and the chance to salvage it was passed months ago.
13 Jan 2026 22:26:28
Think there is every chance we don't do business because the player (s) were after aren't attainable this window.
13 Jan 2026 23:17:01
Seasons over? No trophies, no entertainment, no point ?.
14 Jan 2026 00:46:56
@Sean Dundee, I agree we signed some top players but cb should have been the priority, as well as moving on Konate. Other than that we did have a good summer, probably spent the max on everyone wouod be only complaint but I guess that's the price for top quality these days.
14 Jan 2026 01:32:32
Ewww yes miss jones!
14 Jan 2026 06:42:52
To be fair Sean, isak has been wanting to leave Newcastle for the better part of two years, it was just a matter of where he was going to go after not getting the contract he wanted. For wirtz part of us getting Flo was Bayern being idiots and messing it up for themselves in the press acting like they had a god given right to signing him. Frimpong was a dead cert once we were interested, we've probably been at the very top of his list since he passed us up as a kid because it was too far of a commute, he's clearly a fan of the club. Kerkez I'd say Hughes was instrumental in getting because of their prior relationship. Leoni was a coup for sure but from one perspective he was always going to pick us over his Italian suitors, we offer more money and are a much bigger club.
Other than that though Hughes paid the asking price for every player and didn't try to get a lower price, we also made the questionable decision of selling quansah and not selling the likes of endo, chiesa, Gomez who, as much as I love them and personally want them to stay as squad players, slot clearly doesn't rate. Having good or even very good squad players we don't use is pointless when we are trying to rotate or bring players off the bench to make a difference in games. All in all it's questionable how good of a sporting director Hughes really is, yes we had a good window overall but at the same time has he done a lot more than buy top shelf talent with a big budget, most of which were chomping at the bit to join us in the first place?