Newcastle United have released a statement defending their summer signings in a move designed to placate fans who are frustrated at the club’s failure to spend income from the transfer of Andy Carroll on a new striker.
Carroll was sold in January 2011 to Liverpool for a reported £35 million and the hierarchy at St James’ Park had promised their supporters that all the money would be used to sign a replacement – or replacements – for the 22-year-old.
However, since then the only striker who has been brought into the squad is Demba Ba, on a free transfer from West Ham, and supporters are unhappy at the failure of the management to fulfil their earlier assurances.
Although the club have strengthened in other areas, including the signings of Yohan Cabaye, Sylvain Marveux and Davide Santon, their summer spending still only reached just over £12.5m while the summer saw the departure of key players such as Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton and Jose Enrique. Fans have consequently voiced concern over the club’s lack of ambition in the transfer market.
A statement on Newcastle’s official website from managing director Derek Llambias said: “Now that the transfer window has closed, we have had some time to reflect on the business we have conducted over the summer.
“Our aim was to secure young players who represented value for money and could add real strength to the squad. The majority of our transfer dealings were completed in the early part of the window and we feel we have signed some players of exceptional quality. Yohan Cabaye, Sylvain Marveaux, Mehdi Abeid, Demba Ba and Gabriel Obertan were all brought in early and we have seen these players settle quickly into the squad and perform well on the pitch.
“Earlier this week we were delighted to sign Davide Santon from Inter Milan to fill our left-back position after the departure of Jose Enrique. Davide is an excellent young prospect and we’re sure he’ll be another superb addition to the squad. We also welcomed young goalkeeper Rob Elliot from Charlton Athletic who will help us retain healthy competition for that position after loaning out Fraser Forster to Celtic.
“Of course we had also hoped to secure a further striker in the window, in addition to Demba Ba. Work to bring a striker into the club began early in the summer. Negotiations were complex and protracted and unfortunately it was disappointing that ultimately we could not secure our priority target.
“Whilst we did turn our attention to alternative prospects in the latter stages of the window, we have a very clear transfer policy and will not make knee-jerk decisions at the last-minute which are not in the best interests of the club. We understand that supporters will feel frustrated that we did not sign another striker during the window, but it was not for lack of trying that we did not bring our final target in.”
There is no mention of who that final target was but the Magpies were reportedly in for both Bryan Ruiz and Modibo Maiga on transfer deadline day and saw both moves fall through, with the former electing to join Fulham instead and the latter remaining in France with Sochaux.
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Newcastle statement outlines disappointment at lack of striker signings but defends transfer policy