Newcastle United got off to a decent start in the first few weeks for a side returning to the Premier League in the season and have slowly come back to their grind. They now stand eleventh on the table with fourteen points from eleven games. They have won five, drawn two and lost two of their last nine games all over.
On the transfer front, things have been very jittery and unplanned. Rafael Benitez has made no secret of the fact that Newcastle United need new players. After a very impressive season in the Championships that saw Newcastle return to the Premier League, Benitez demanded more signings of Premier League standard to establish the club in England’s premier competition. However, with Newcastle unable to sell their existing crop of players, Newcastle has had to deal with a stagnant squad and that has frustrated Benitez.
Come the January transfer window, Benitez has made it clear that he wants reinforcements. It is now being reported that Newcastle United are readying a move for West Ham United forward Marko Arnautovic, four months after the Austrian joined the club. The West Ham forward came to the club as a record £25m signing along with other top club signings.
West Ham have several problems of their own. They recently sacked Bilic after a disastrous start to the new season. The Hammers brought in impressive attacking enforcers in Arnautovic and Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez but have not been able to get their game going and after bagging a meagre 11 goals in 11 games, the Hammers sit 18th with a feeble 9 points on the table. Their entrance to the relegation was the final straw for the board and led to the sacking of Bilic and they have now appointed David Moyes as a replacement.
Many people, along with the newly appointed manager seems to think that it is the lack of balance in the team that has caused it to suffer. So Moyes now has the backing of the board to cut loose any player he feels is not being able to perform up to satisfactory standards. Moyes wants to bring in midfielders like Harry Arter of Bournemouth or William Carvalho of Sporting Lisbon, with whom they were linked in the summer. He also wants a defender and is likely to raid his former club Sunderland for Lamine Kone.
To make funds available for such transfers, it is being reported that West Ham are ready to sell Arnautovic, who has not been able to cut it at London this season. Should Newcastle be able to sneak in and get a talented player like Arnautovic at a cut-price deal, it might really help calm Benitez’s frustration and aid him to form a team with the Austrian as the focal point of attack.
