In some ways, I’d liken Newcastle to Liverpool. They’re so close to brilliance – Don Hutchison | OneFootball

Don Hutchison has been talking about Newcastle United and Liverpool.

The former Sunderland and Liverpool player discussing recruitment.

Don Hutchison declaring; “In some ways, I’d liken Newcastle to Liverpool. They’re so close to brilliance.”

Hutchison naming a sizeable number of quality players that United already have, meaning there are only a limited number of positions in the first choice eleven that can be potentially improved.

In particular, Don Hutchison thinks that no Premier League midfield is better than the United trio of Bruno,, Joelinton and Tonali.

“In some ways, I’d liken Newcastle to Liverpool. They’re so close to brilliance.

“It’s a bit like when Liverpool only signed Chiesa, because how can you improve on Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk or Trent Alexander-Arnold?

“Obviously, Newcastle aren’t at that level, but I wouldn’t swap Newcastle’s midfield for anyone else’s in England. Joelinton, Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimaraes – there’s no trio better.

“Same for Alexander Isak, you can’t improve on that. Anthony Gordon, you might get a better player, but he has exceptional potential you don’t want to block. Tino Livramento is wanted by some big clubs, like [Man] City, and I like Lewis Hall. There’s plenty of talent there.

“I think where you could improve [Newcastle United] is bringing in another goalkeeper and another centre-back. You could look at someone like Marc Guehi, who’d slot in brilliantly alongside Sven Botman. But for Newcastle, there’s a limited number of spaces that you can fill to improve on. Like, you can play fantasy football and say. we’ll sign him and we’ll sign him. But is any midfield player going to get in ahead of Newcastle’s current three? Not in my opinion.

“The difficulty for Eddie Howe is a little bit like it was for Arne Slot.

“Who do you actually bring in, unless you’re buying guys that are going to be squad players. I’ve never been a fan of a squad player because I don’t know what your theory or your thinking is. I’ve always thought why would you buy to strengthen your bench? Surely you buy to strengthen your 11. The knockdown effect is those who can’t get in the team are the bench boys. That’s the way I always look at it. So that’s the difficulty.