Newcastle United have not started the 2023/24 campaign with the same level of imperiousness that was the foundation of the English outfit's tremendous exploits last season.
The Premier League side have suffered three league defeats in succession – against Manchester City, Liverpool and Brighton & Hove Albion – after a resounding 5-1 demolition of Aston Villa to kick the term off.
While the club is not in crisis mode – far from it, in fact – it is a concerning start to the season that has left Eddie Howe's side moored in 14th place, albeit after just four games.
Qualifying for the Champions League with a top-four finish last year was an unexpected triumph, and failing to repeat the feat would not be a doomsday scenario, but the club will need to start winning and ensuring that they at least challenge for a place at the upper echelon of the top-flight.
Who did Newcastle sign this summer?
Seeking to bolster a cohesive, gelled outfit with astute acquisitions this summer, Howe and technical director Dan Ashworth welcomed Sandro Tonali, Harvey Barnes, Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall to the fold, having seen Allan Saint-Maximin as the only notable departee.
Howe, rightfully, opted to tinker away at his squad rather than issue wall-to-wall changes, with the St. James' Park side built on players signed shrewdly, playing for each other and fighting fiercely for the badge.
Tonali, an “extraordinary” playmaker – as has been said by his former manager Eugenio Corini – has been acquired to strengthen a formidable midfield, while Barnes is a counterweight of sorts to Anthony Gordon, with the wide men – both 2023 signings – ensuring a meld of qualities aptly restores the loss of Saint-Maximin.
Barnes is a proven Premier League star and United fought off competition from the likes of Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United to secure his signature from Leicester City for £38m, but despite his talents, perhaps a better move could have been made, with Newcastle opting to sign the £80k-per-week talent instead of a now-thriving Premier League star.
What are Harvey Barnes' strengths?
While Leicester suffered the disrepute of falling into the Championship last season – ending an illustrious spell in top-flight football that secured a Premier League title, FA Cup trophy and impressive Champions League run to the quarter-finals – Barnes was among the select few to emerge relatively unscathed.
While many Foxes hung their heads in shame, Barnes stood tall and proud after scoring 13 goals and providing one assist from 34 Premier League matches last season, earning praise from WhoScored's Martin Laurence for combining "pace with intelligent movement".
The one-cap England international actually ranks among the top 6% of attacking midfielders and wingers across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for goals per 90 (FBref), and demonstrated the incisiveness that Howe and co paid the big bucks for with a goal and assist apiece off the bench on his debut against Aston Villa.
With a penchant for making a difference in attacking moves, Barnes boasts a cutting edge that has already demonstrated its worth to the fast-rising club, but given that Newcastle were interested in signing Moussa Diaby this season, perhaps Howe should have signed the Frenchman instead.
Did Newcastle want to sign Moussa Diaby?
Newcastle should take great pride in their remarkable 2022/23 season, making an emphatic rise to prominence and now preparing for Champions League football for the first time in two decades, with a tantalising group draw containing Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund awaiting.
But the Tyneside team are not the only Premier League outfit to have basked in glory last season, with Aston Villa also shaking off the early-season disgruntlement that resulted in Steven Gerrard's dismissal to appoint trophy-specialist Unai Emery, who spearheaded a climb up the table and clinched a spot in this term's Europa Conference League.
A momentous achievement for both sides, especially considering the likes of Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur were left mired in mediocrity lower down the league ladder, and as a result of Villa's success, Diaby was signed from Bayer Leverkusen for £52m in an impressive display of intent.
The 24-year-old had just concluded a prolific campaign in Germany, plundering 14 goals and 11 assists across all competitions and being heralded for a "supernatural, divine gift" by Morade Djeddi, the president of the ace's first club Esperance Paris 19e.
Newcastle may well kick themselves in the future after failing to follow up on their interest this summer, with Football Transfers even claiming in the early days of July that Ashworth had made his signature a transfer priority having been dissuaded by Leverkusen's asking price the prior summer.
Ranking among the top 13% of positional peers for goals per 90, as per FBref, the £37k-per-week phenom also ranks among the top 27% for assists and the top 22% for progressive carries per 90, impressing in the embryonic stage of his career on English shores, scoring two goals and supplying an assist for the Lions.
There is a seamless grace to his gliding presence on the pitch, marauding the wings and utilising his dynamism to great effect, and given his promising start to life at Villa Park, he could well blossom into one of the Premier League's most frightening forwards.
Proclaimed to be a "dangerous" attacking weapon by former Freiburg striker Nils Petersen, Diaby matches Barnes for goalscoring – actually outscoring his positional peer by a singular strike last season – but remarkably outperforming the one-time West Bromwich Albion loanee in creativity.
This multi-functional tool kit would have been perfect for Howe's side and system, looking to implement swift transitions and devastating counter-attacking ability.
The argument for Diaby's inclusion in this Magpies squad does not negate Barnes' ability, far from it; the Englishman is a fantastic footballer and will prove to alight St. James' Park on numerous occasions this year and beyond, but given the affluence and pursuit of prominence at the very highest level, Diaby would have been a tailor-made fit.
Barnes will score goals for Newcastle, but he will not provide the creative spark that Diaby would have brought to the fold.
For such an all-encompassing star to have joined a direct divisional rival could possibly come back to sting Howe's side – indeed, Diaby netted on his debut against the Toon team, albeit in a 5-1 defeat.
Only time will tell whether such a transfer failure will create a rueful air in Newcastle, but given Diaby's start to life with Aston Villa and his burgeoning rise over the past several years, he may well prove to be a massive loss in the future.