Aston Villa and Newcastle United transfer spending – Reality is a bit of a shock to the system for some | OneFootball

The Newcastle United transfer spending has become a major topic of discussion amongst many people in recent times.

Claims of NUFC ‘buying success’ are regularly heard.

As though Newcastle United are the first football club in history EVER to buy players to improve their team / squad.

Ahead of this weekend’s match I have once against seen / heard Newcastle United transfer spending put up as some kind of extreme factor to do with the relative success these past 18 months or so, after at last we saw the back of Mike Ashley and Steve Bruce.

In recent days, this narrative has been, from what I have seen, about how Aston Villa for example, are such poor relations compared to Newcastle United transfer spending.

Is this really the truth / reality though, even when it comes to Aston Villa measuring themselves up against NUFC?

So…

Aston Villa were promoted in 2019, so how does their spending compare to Newcastle United in that timeframe?

Well, in these past eight transfer windows (summer 2019 onwards) Newcastle United have spent (all figures via Transfermarkt) £376m, whilst Aston Villa have spent £432m in that same time period.

So, even allowing for these past three transfer windows where the new NUFC owners had to rescue the club after so many years of underfunding both on and off the pitch, Aston Villa have STILL actually spent some £56m more than Newcastle United these past four years!

Who knows what happens in the future, short and long-term, but to claim that Newcastle United are currently (relatively) succeeding simply because of money spent, is ludicrous.

Could this just possibly more be about how clubs are run and in particular, how good the manager is, in both identifying signings and then using players, old and new, to the best effect?

The truth is, the vast improvement in Newcastle United performances and points has been mainly down to clever low budget signings AND especially, the work Eddie Howe has done with players old and new.

Inspirational signings such as Pope (£10m), Trippier (£12m), Burn (£13m), Targett (£12m) have absolutely transformed Newcastle’s defence into the best currently in the Premier League. Along with the likes of Schar (Rafa bought for £3.5m and Steve Bruce didn’t rate), the defending now unrecognisable from the shambles under Bruce. Eddie Howe buying England internationals Pope and Trippier for only around a combined £22m.

As noted above, who knows what happens in the future? Maybe Newcastle United will be one of the most powerful when it comes to buying players, hopefully!

However, the current upward trajectory of NUFC across the past season and a half is all about Eddie Howe’s superb work, with new signings AND especially those players who were already at the club.

On Saturday when Eddie Howe and his team made it five wins in a row, nine of the sixteen players who got on the pitch were at St James’ Park before Eddie Howe arrived, whilst twelve of Saturday’s 20 man matchday squad against Brentford were players this NUFC Head Coach inherited.

The reality as well is that the major spending under Eddie Howe and these Newcastle United owners hasn’t been on the likes of older players such as Coutinho and Carlos on massive wages. Instead, the overwhelming majority of the cash spent these last three windows has been on (when bought) a 21 year old (Gordon), two 22 year olds (Botman and Isak) and a 24 year old (Bruno).