Newcastle United have struggled to get going this season, carrying a perfectly balanced Premier League record of three wins, draws and defeats apiece after nine fixtures.
Eddie Howe won’t be sweating for his place, but the English manager has failed to see the best of his talented bunch so far this term in what turns back to the struggles throughout the summer transfer window.
The four turned-down bids to sign Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace will still sting, but it is the fact that a right winger was not purchased, and Miguel Almiron was not sold, that is a core part of the issue.
Newcastle fumbled the bag with Almiron
Almiron has been a stalwart for Newcastle, but it felt like 2024 was high time for the 30-year-old Paraguayan to have moved on.
Newcastle lodged a £50m bid for Elanga on transfer deadline day in August but saw their offer laughed off by Tricky Trees, who are flying high this season.
There’s also been interest in Bournemouth’s Antoine Semenyo, but £50m is the Cherries’ demand and this is rather lofty, even if the winger has been on fire this season.
Matches (starts)
9 (9)
33 (23)
Goals
3
3
Assists
1
1
Shots (on target)*
4.2 (0.9)
1.2 (0.4)
Pass completion
77%
86%
Key passes*
1.1
0.7
Dribbles*
1.9
0.7
Ball recoveries*
4.9
2.7
Total duels won*
5.8
2.6
Indeed, you can see above that Semenyo is levels above Almiron at present (given that Newcastle’s player has scarcely played this term, his metrics from last year have been collated against Semenyo’s).
It might be difficult to sign him, especially in January, and with that in mind, perhaps Howe should start unleashing academy gem Ben Parkinson with greater regularity.
Why Ben Parkinson should be given a shot
Parkinson made his senior debut for Newcastle last season, coming off the bench in a 2-0 defeat against Bournemouth in the Premier League.
A dynamic forward, the 19-year-old operates either as a centre-forward or right-sided winger and has impressed with his clinical performances this year, posting four goals and one assist across nine appearances for the U21s.
Such goalscoring success means that he’s even outperformed Alexander Isak so far in 2024/25, with the all-powerful Sweden international having only scored two goals and added one assist across eight fixtures in all competitions this year.
Parkinson seems to have that natural-born striking quality that could bear dividends for Howe’s struggling outfit right now, with just nine goals scored in the Premier League thus far – the lowest amount of any team in the top 13.
If he can translate this output to performances in the senior set-up, there’s every chance that Howe could get the Toon faithful roaring once again.
In The Pipeline
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He’s already been described as a youngster who just loves scoring goals by Magpies correspondents, and thus could be the solution. It’s time for a promotion.
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