It’s a bit strange that they get their hands on a supposedly huge transfer kitty and want to sign Wood and Fellaini. Alright it’s a short term solution but the Geordies were probably expecting a bit more than those two.

Wood will undoubtedly do a good job for them if their chosen style to avoid relegation is playing to the strengths of a big strong target man. Wood is both better in the air and a more reliable finisher than most other Premier League strikers in the ‘target man’ bracket and that includes Benteke. He is also a far better all round player in terms of touch, hold up play, pressing and link up.

He also already lives up North so is used to the grim weather, his injury record is pretty good, as is his consistency to deliver the goals each year and he knows the PL inside out.

I think it’s a good (short term) signing for them and it will significantly weaken one of their main rivals in the relegation battle into the bargain.

Edited by Phil’s Barber (12 Jan 2022 9.48am)

To reach the 36 point mark they need 25 points from 19 games, that’s 8 wins. Seeing they’ve only had 1 win from the first 19 games there’s going to have to be a remarkable transformation in form.
Not out the question, but unlikely.

Absolutely right, It is a lot for a 30 year old but then again, money to them at the moment is no object.

I think if I was someone from the PIF school of football, I would probably have been surprised at how badly NUFC have done since sacking Steve Bruce & probably would have just done a quick bit of research on just how bad results could be without Callum Wilson (& ASM on occasions) based on that steep learning curve & the how many points required to stay up from how many games calculation my original game plan is probably in the skip by now.

Wood is a superb signing; arguably the best any club will make this window. Why? The reason is simple. 1. He's better than Newcastle have now so any goal or assist or contribution he makes is an improvement on the team before he arrived and 2. Every goal, assist or contribution he doesn't make for Burnley, realistically Newcastle's biggest rival for survival, is also points won for Newcastle, even if he actually never plays for Newcastle themselves. Simply by depriving Burnley of Wood Newcastle are in the black. You can see whatever he does for them as a bonus. This transfer is the definition of a six-pointer and for that reason, it's well worth the outlay. It's also a very shrewd signing in that Newcastle identified a player they could sign without being held to ransom over the fee. They simply activated the release clause in his contract and signed him with no haggling at all. For a club rightly accused of chucking money at problems, that's a smart way to do business whether you think Wood is worth the amount of the release clause or not.

Sydenham by birth. Selhurst by the Grace of God.