2019/20 Newcastle United Player Review: Emil Krafth

Emil Krafth struggled to find consistent match time with Newcastle United in his first year in England.

Last offseason, Newcastle United made a move to solidify their right-back spot as the Magpies signed Emil Krafth to join DeAndre Yedlin and Javier Manquillo. We revisit the first season with the club for the Swedish international.

2019/20 EPL stats: 17 appearances, one assist, 67% tackle success rate, eight interceptions

Expert Breakdown

Durim Halimi: Emil Krafth is an interesting player who has some great attributes for a defender, but his pace has been a major concern for me. There have been games where Krafth impressed with his defending, and other times where he made players like Teemu Pukki resemble Karim Benzema.

One area where Krafth began to excel in the second half of the season is his overlapping runs and deliveries into the box. In my opinion, Krafth is not cut out to be a regular starter for Newcastle United, but he is a decent rotation player who can contribute when called upon next season.

Carson A. Merk: When Emil Krafth was signed last summer, I don’t think there was a strong opinion one way or the other. It was a decent signing on paper as they added a player that featured in the 2018 World Cup at a position that could definitely use some competition/an upgrade.

Then, once we saw Krafth early on, he was struggling mightily with the pace and physicality of the Premier League. He was overmatched in the Norwich City loss and would eventually lose the primary spot to a healthy DeAndre Yedlin and a vastly improved Javi Manquillo.

He re-established himself down the stretch and looked much better than his early season form, registering his lone assist in Newcastle’s draw with West Ham in July. Going forward, Krafth has the talent to battle for that spot with Manquillo or Yedlin, if he sticks around, and should be more confident entering Year 2.