Newcastle’s Saudi vision faces suspicion and unfulfilled promises
A report from Theguardian says Newcastle’s Saudi vision is showing cracks on the pitch after a chaotic summer of expensive signings that have underperformed. Nick Woltemade, signed for £69m, has stopped scoring; Anthony Elanga, a £55m winger, has struggled for game time and goals; Malick Thiaw, a £35m centre-half, keeps making basic errors.
The summer window, conducted without a sporting director and with an outgoing chief executive, looks increasingly like a disaster, Eddie Howe is holding the squad together, they sit 11th in the Premier League and no signings arrived in January. Off the field, promised regeneration projects have yet to appear: the new training ground rumoured near the airport has not materialised, the proposed stadium in Leazes Park remains a figment of the imagination, and Amanda Staveley’s claim that the Public Investment Fund had “massive plans to invest in the city” has produced little formalised or enacted evidence more than four years on.