Reacting to Football Daily’s Newcastle Potential Takeover XI
Football Daily put together a projected starting lineup for a post-takeover Newcastle United.
Today, Football Daily released a video that broke down a potential starting XI for Newcastle United after the takeover. Per usual with their content, they brought some interesting stats, facts, and insight to the table. But, I definitely don’t agree with their entire selected starting lineup.
First, let’s look at the squad they put together:
Goalkeeper: Martin Dubravka
Defense: Danny Rose, Kalidou Koulibaly, Jamaal Lascelles, DeAndre Yedlin
Midfield/Wing: Allan Saint-Maximin, Arturo Vidal, Sean Longstaff, Nabil Fekir
Forward: Edinson Cavani
Obviously, this hypothetical squad would be battling against Financial Fair Play with big-money signings like Koulibaly, Vidal, Fekir, and Countinho (Cavani is on a free transfer). But, we will not factor that directly into our evaluation and we will work our way from the back to the front. In goal, Martin Dubravka is essentially a no-brainer, just as they explain. You could do a lot worse than Danny Rose at left back, so I don’t mind that selection.
Central defense is one of the most intriguing position groups on the pitch. Football Daily went with a pairing of Kalidou Koulibaly and skipper Jamaal Lascelles. I wrote previously that breaking the bank on Koulibaly may not be the best use of the club’s finances. For Lascelles, as Football Daily mentioned, his leadership is a big piece of his value. You could argue there were times this season that he was the club’s fourth-best center back behind Fabian Schar, Federico Fernandez, and Ciaran Clark. Personally, I think a pairing of Lascelles and Schar would be best, keeping the depth of Clark, Paul Dummett, and Florian Lejeune behind them.
In fairness, I don’t know when this video was produced or voiced, but they selected DeAndre Yedlin as their starting right back. But, there were reports last week that he wants to leave the club this summer. Beyond that, Javier Manquillo has been superior to the American speedster this season and would get the nod among players on the roster.
The midfield group they put together was Arturo Vidal and Sean Longstaff as central players and Philippe Coutinho as an attacking mid. Vidal would be a great addition to the middle of the park, but I can’t imagine Sean Longstaff would be the starter in that midfield ahead of Jonjo Shelvey or a new addition. He’s been poor this campaign and while he may still be a star in the future, he shouldn’t be a starter to kick off next season. Coutinho would be a star and could fit in the attacking midfield or on the wing.
Speaking of the wings, the choices were Allan Saint-Maximin and Real Betis star Nabil Fekir. I agree with Saint-Maximin and I don’t disagree at all on including Fekir, but I would prefer him inside as a number 10. This is also where there was an omission of Miguel Almiron. His production took a while to get started in the Premier League, but you’d have to assume he will be included in the starting XI next season as he’s been one of the club’s most exciting talents this season.
Playing in empty stadiums would be rough on NUFC. dark. Next
Up top, Edinson Cavani would be a welcome addition. Joelinton could still get that chance with an improved gameplan and talent around him, but adding an elite striker like Cavani would do wonders for the Magpies.