sport news Newcastle were teased for splashing out £25m but the joke will be on rivals if ...

sport news Newcastle were teased for splashing out £25m but the joke will be on rivals if ...
sport news Newcastle were teased for splashing out £25m but the joke will be on rivals if ...

Gary Lineker thought it was ‘hilarious’ that Newcastle were spending £20million on Burnley striker Chris Wood. He was no doubt bent double when discovering it was actually £25m.

But then there is the mantra of another former England captain, Kevin Keegan. It was an adage he used to repeat when managing the club — ‘buy better’.

Given Newcastle are without a fit frontman and finished last weekend’s 1-0 FA Cup defeat by League One Cambridge United with 5ft 4in winger Ryan Fraser at centre forward, it is fair to say Keegan would approve of Wood’s acquisition. He is certainly better than what they have right now.

Chris Wood has sealed a £25m move from Burnley to Newcastle on a two-and-a-half year deal

Chris Wood has sealed a £25m move from Burnley to Newcastle on a two-and-a-half year deal

Lineker justified his stance by claiming the fee was ‘mad’ and said Newcastle would never be top of the league with such ‘poor recruitment’.

But Newcastle do not need to scale the summit of the Premier League this season — they have to avoid tumbling over the precipice.

Lineker was right that, in numbers alone, paying such a sum for a 30-year-old in the final 18 months of his contract and with three goals this season is, undeniably, a little mad.

It would have been even madder, however, had Newcastle not done the deal, especially when Wood’s release clause allowed for a swift completion.

For in the isolation of this season and, more urgently, this week — they play fourth-bottom Watford on Saturday — Wood could yet prove the most inspired signing of a Saudi-led regime that will bring in countless more in the years to come. It does not really matter if the fee is £2.5m or £25m, when the prize is a £150m renewal of top-flight status. As Wood said: ‘If that’s what Newcastle thought I was worth at this point in time, then that’s how it is. You never know, in six months’ time you could look back and say it’s a great deal.’

Chris Wood is keen to silence the doubters after signing a two-and-a-half-year deal

Chris Wood is keen to silence the doubters after signing a two-and-a-half-year deal

Newcastle can afford relegation in monetary terms, but not in the reputational damage to a project which, as Lineker addressed, is meant to be taking them to the top of the Premier League.

To that end, the visit of Watford — two points above with a game in hand —

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