How Did Newcastle’s Previous Record Signings Compare to Miguel Almiron?
Posted on April 17th, 2019 | 35 Comments |
Miguel Almiron is already paying back his record transfer fee off the field #nufc https://t.co/cQDE9WwdcT pic.twitter.com/6Bot2tHIKc
— The Chronicle (@ChronicleNUFC) April 1, 2019
Michael Owen.
Owen is one of a number of players who have played for both Newcastle and Liverpool, with Andy Carroll’s (in)famous transfer for £36million in January 2011. The injury-prone striker commanded the highest amount ever paid for a British player between two clubs and despite inflation, he remains one of the most expensive footballers in the history of the Premier League. Although Owen did provide some moments of magic during his spell with the club, he remained largely unpopular with the fanbase.
Georginio Wijnaldum.
It was a mixed spell for Wijnaldum, who was part of the side relegated to the Championship, but he proved to be the occasional game-changer. He scored four times against Norwich in October 2015, although he wasn’t able to deliver this kind of performance on a regular basis. Despite this, Newcastle made a tidy profit on the 28-year-old who joined Liverpool for £25million in 2016, and he’s become a vital member of the Reds squad for the last three seasons. He remains relatively popular with Newcastle fans, and probably just about sets the benchmark for Almiron.
On this Day, in 2015: Gini Wijnaldum scored 4 as Newcastle beat Norwich 6-2 at St James’ Park. pic.twitter.com/VqJ4uyJ4OA
— Adam. (@AdamNUFC_) October 18, 2018
Aleksandar Mitrovic.
Unfortunately, the Serbian proved to be a bit of firebrand and spent more time being reprimanded by match officials than adding his name to the score-sheet. He scored nine times in 34 games, before adding a further four in the top flight. His style didn’t suit Rafa Benitez’s preferred system and the controversial frontman was eventually shipped out to Fulham.
There were moments of quality during his time at the club, but he left many supporters on edge and was spent far too much time serving his various suspensions. He’s since scored regularly for the Cottagers, but he only seems to flourish in a particular system and Newcastle weren’t able to accommodate this. Although many supporters enjoyed his contribution, he was far from trustworthy and Almiron already looks to be a far more reliable proposition.
Miguel Almiron’s Newcastle career may still be in its infancy, but he looks a decent fit for the club. He is calmer than Mitrovic and significantly less injury-prone than the ageing Michael Owen. He’s still settling into his new surroundings, but Toon fans will be hoping that he can fulfil that early promise in the Premier League next season.
Watching the game yesterday, I had the thought that maybe, in hindsight, the real advantage of spending over £20 million on Almiron hasn’t been the play of Almiron himself so far, but that it has transformed one of our existing players, Perez, into a £20 million player. I don’t just mean Perez’s hat-trick yesterday, but his performances ever since Almiron joined the club, which have improved markedly. I’m not necessarily knocking his performances before, after all he was only a £1.5 million signing from a second level Spanish club and bearing that in mind, the lad has done well. My thoughts were subsequently echoed by one of the pundits on ‘MotD’ yesterday evening.
Getting back to Almiron, he has shown bags of energy and running and has made a contribution, but he hasn’t scored any goals or provided any assists yet, which Perez certainly has since Almiron arrived.
Chuck, getting back to your other points on the other page, I don’t know why you used the Glazers as an example of intelligent spending, if you want to blow the trumpet of your fellow Yanks, I’d pick Henry if I were you. Credit where credit is due, he’s done an excellent job at Liverpool so far.