Newcastle’s Miserable Summer Has Caught Up to Them

Summertime Sadness Catches Magpies

Yes, you may have read the headline here and, depending on your accent, might have burst into a furious rage. Are we really slapping that label down after Newcastle's first loss of the season?

Yes. Yes we are.

⚡️ THESE ELLAND ROAD LIGHTS!! pic.twitter.com/eu0tsFN8RT

— Leeds United (@LUFC) September 14, 2026

Newcastle United's summer was one of considerable heartache for the Magpies, with a notable number of star departures and the prospect of more derailing the majority of their summer plans.

Star midfielders Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali were two of them, and that came after first-choice winger Anthony Gordon made the ambitious leap over to La Liga with Catalan giants Barcelona. Though they didn't come to pass, heavy links away for the likes of Lewis Hall and Joelinton threatened to set their summer even further alight as well. Kieran Trippier and Nick Woltemade left as well, but in fairness they weren't glaring issues.

And there was the resignation of Eddie Howe, the man who converted the mega-money Saudi backing of Newcastle into tangible results, who was left so frustrated by a lack of backing that he thought only of the need to leave.

Matthias Jaissle came in to replace the Englishman, and the young German coach looks every piece the right replacement for his predecessor. But things came to a juddering, troublesome blockade last night at Elland Road, when Leeds United tore Newcastle limb-from-limb in a heavy 4-1 drubbing.

And now, in the circumstances of the loss, it appears that the crazy summer gone by at St. James' Park is bleeding it's effects onto the club going forward.

Newcastle's Big-Name Losses

As touched on before, Newcastle have lost some mighty names from their squad this summer gone by.

The midfield three of Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton was arguably amongst the Premier League's more formidable engine rooms, but two-thirds of that partnership has been trimmed off and sold away, after the big-money, bigger-shocker move of Gordon to the Nou Camp after he had netted 17 goals for them the season prior.

This, of course, coming the summer after all of the drama surrounding Alexander Isak's record move to Liverpool, and the well-speculated-upon crop of abjectly poor signings that came in from that summer recruitment pile as well.

It seems as if Newcastle United are in something of a spin when it comes to transfers.

When the Saudi Arabian money first landed in the club accounts, everyone expected them to shoot into Premier League title contention in the blink of an eye. Was that the case? Of course it bloody wasn't, and a good deal of credit needs to go to Howe for how he handled the club upon his arrival.

📝 That has to be a huge learning curve for Newcastle tonight.
🔝 Looking at the team sheet in that opening game against Liverpool with a midfield two and Wissa in the 10, it looked like they’d get overpowered.
🤍 But they didn’t. Perhaps it was the emotion of the Keegan… pic.twitter.com/TZECBvAUqx

— Keith Downie (@SkySports_Keith) September 14, 2026

Being ludicrously wealthy and fiscally able to push the very furthest boundaries of FFP certainly has it's perks and bonuses, but the signings still have to be the right ones. That first transfer window with the Saudi backing was perhaps the most important in the club's recent history.

Bruno Guimaraes, Dan Burn and Kieran Trippier were every bit the perfect signings for Newcastle at the time. A home-town hero, a wily and experienced man on the right, and an expensive star signing to lay their intentions bare going forward.

And the good runs of signings continued onwards. Gordon, Isak, Tonali, Botman, Pope, Barnes, Livramento, Hall. Not a scrub amongst them. You'd be pretty hard-pressed to find a 'poor' signing amongst all of the new faces that have come into Newcastle since October 2021. Chris Wood, perhaps, but I'm a Forest fan so I'm passing on zero criticism of my beloved Kiwi.

But after some PSR issues, the Isak drama and a total re-structuring of the behind-scenes hierarchy at the club, fortunes soon began to change on the success rate of their new recruits.

Newcastle's Latest Summers Have Been Poor

All of Newcastle's signings before last summer, even the backup ones, had been carefully mapped and largely successful. But last summer that all seemed to change.

They signed Anthony Elanga, for starters. Again, as a Forest fan, I can say for certain that the lad is absolute quality. However, his style suited Forest's counter-attacking system of the time down to the ground, and that did not translate over to a more balanced style of play under Howe. As such, he struggled (though seems to be coming good now, thankfully.)

Then there was whoever decided spending north of £40m on Jacob Ramsey was a good idea. Then there was Woltemade, who looked decent enough but was horrifically mis-used and totally overpriced - he's already gone. Then there was spending a whopping amount of cash on an injured Yoane Wissa who only had a year left on his Brentford contract anyway.

And this is the point alluded to earlier. A shed-load of cash does not a strong football club make, but the Magpies toed that line superbly for four straight years and enjoyed Champions League football twice as a result of that. But last summer, and maybe this one, lead as examples of where mega-millions can go wrong. Again, I insist, £40m+ on Jacob fucking Ramsey?

João Pedro to Newcastle, done deal and here we go! Full agreement as Watford have now accepted final, official bid worth £25m fixed fee, £5m add-ons. 🚨⚪️⚫️🇧🇷 #NUFC

Deal will also include sell-on clause for 10%. Personal terms already, as been told contract will be until 2028. pic.twitter.com/MejBeGtHQO

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) August 22, 2022

This summer, however, was a chance for Newcastle to put things correct. They lost three major stars in their team, and were rejected at almost every possible turn by their ideal targets for their positions. Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, Johan Manzambi and Victor Munoz were all eyed by the club, and every single one of them either stayed put or went elsewhere.

And that is the chaos we are now left with for Newcastle. Their very core has been ravaged over the last two summers, and now a stream of new faces have the daunting task of gelling together at a rate of Knotts before the season quickly gets away from them.

This isn't to say that their signings have been bad this summer. Quite the contrary, in fact. I love Matias Fernandez-Pardo, Nico Gonzalez adds that ready-made elite experience into a sorely-lacking midfield, and un-sung arrivals like Amar Dedic, Aladji Bamba and Bazoumana Toure have every right to be excellent additions going forward.

But in the immediate times, Newcastle have been rocked and now face the juggling act of making a fresh crop of young recruits work in a short manner of time. When facing Leeds last night, as Dom Calvert-Lewin ran them absolutely ragged, it laid bare the weight of that particular task and the unforgiving nature of the Premier League in their chances to get it done quickly.