With a number of Premier League clubs having already secured a few new faces before the transfer window officially opens, Newcastle United have still not brought anyone in. Is club owner Mike Ashley applying a new policy after the £40million spending spree last summer, or is it the recently appointed Steve McClaren who just needs time to assess his squad?
The Toon didn't cope well - or at all - with the departure of Alan Pardew, leaving on the border between December and January. Under John Carver's disastrous reign, the club fell like a rock towards the drop zone, and could even have been relegated on the final day of the season. So, considering his spending spree last season didn't exactly yield gold and greatness, one might think that club owner Mike Ashley might reduce the transfer budget this summer.
Early business last summer
At this point last year, Newcastle had already brought in eventual fan favourite Ayoze Pérez for the paltry fee of £1.6million from CD Tenerife, and Jack Colback had swapped red and white for black and white in the North East as he arrivedfrom Sunderland on a free transfer. And only two days into the transfer window, Siem de Jong joined the club with £7million transferred to Ajax' bank account.
This year there has been nothing, bar rumours of McClaren wanting to bring in England U21 hotshot Jesse Lingard on loan from Manchester United, and an outright dismissal from Chelsea forward Patrick Bamford. An argument for the lack of transfers being McClaren's own choice might be his take on things after his first week in charge. The former Twente and Wolfsburg manager wanted to "send a clear message" that the managerial change yielded "a fresh start for everybody", according to Newcastle's official website.
Ashley is not a big spender
However, the Newcastle fans are probably not overly confident in terms of Ashley splashing the cash once again, after the Remy Cabella transfer last summer. Despite varying reports of the price tag, somewhere in the range of £7-12million, with Newcastle claiming closer to the former and selling club Montpellier claiming the latter number is closer to the truth, Mike Ashley is a businessman, and businessmen don't like to waste money. And in truth, it is hard to evade the term 'waste of money' when discussing the transfer of Cabella, with one goal and two assists in all competitions in his debut season at Tyneside.
After all, Mike Ashley hasn't spent £10million+ on a single player since he brought Fabrizio Coloccini to the club in 2008, so he might turn out hesitant to do it again, as neither Cabella, de Jong, Emmanuel Riviere or Facundo Ferreyra yielded anything noteworthy in the wake of million-pound transfers last season.