TA: Eddie Howe wants to introduce goalkeeper, right winger, central defender this summer, and may also have a forward

June 5 TheAthletic reported that Newcastle officially announced that the club's sports director Paul Mitchell will leave office at the end of June this year, and coach Eddie Howe wants to introduce new players as soon as possible.

Eddie Howe previously said: "For us, speed is key, and I reiterate this internally because we have to stay energetic and we have to be ready to complete the task very, very quickly because good players don't stay on the team for too long." Newcastle has not signed a first-team player in three consecutive transfer windows. Last summer, they sold Elliott Anderson, who was originally designated for a major role, to Nottingham Forest to help balance the accounts. They also sold YAMBA Mint, who has since made 32 appearances for Brighton as the right wing, a position Howe has wanted to strengthen for years. In January, they cleared out more players, and from a financial standpoint, these deals are necessary and represent decent business, but from a football standpoint, it's what Howe cares about, which makes his team lack the depth of the bench.

Under the profit and sustainability rules of the Premier League, they now have room and the team needs a lot of updates. Howe wants a goalkeeper, a right winger, a central defender, and possibly a forward. The goal is carefully considered and determined.

When it comes to bigger issues, Newcastle's major shareholder Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) is notoriously slow to move, and a transitional structure needs to be able to make decisions quickly. The club said it would, but the decision could only be postponed. The departure of Mitchell and Els means Newcastle's second straight summer of turmoil. At this stage, Howe still doesn't know who to report to next season and who his direct boss will be.

When Staveli and Godusi left Newcastle in July last year, Howe lost two important allies and supporters. In the early days after the acquisition, the three of them worked closely together to establish a close and intimate relationship that he could keep abreast of the situation at any time, for better or worse. They left a vacuum, and Newcastle felt less like a family than a business. When Mitchell arrived, Howe was barely not notified, and Mitchell was straightforward and rough, and he wanted to leave his mark in Newcastle.

When Newcastle negotiated with Liverpool about the sale of Anthony Gordon, Chelsea asked Isaac, and Newcastle's locker room was full of uncertainty after Mitchell's long-term fruitless pursuit of Crystal Palace's Mark Guy. They don't believe in Newcastle's ambitions because there is no supplement to high-quality players. Howe feels less certain about his relationships. He wasn't quite sure what the club's vision was, so how could he convince his players? "No one except Eddie and his staff can fully understand how hard this season is, things could have been completely different," the source said. This is a byproduct of uncertainty.

How and Mitchell's early tensions were first around individuals, then transfers, and Newcastle was not capable or willing to buy anyone, and the transfer was basically irrelevant. They will never be close partners. Maybe this tension will explode again this summer, maybe Mitchell’s expertise and experience will stand out, and everyone will be happy that Newcastle will complete their transfer deal, the minimum support Howe deserves after a truly transformative season. Newcastle has maintained an elite level for six months, showing their abilities, and they are not an elite club in terms of infrastructure and facilities.

Howe must focus on establishing new partnerships with Eals' successor and Mitchell's successor, regardless of their job description, whatever the new structure is. Once again, there will be different people responsible for managing Newcastle, or shaping what kind of team Newcastle should be. In an ideal world, CEOs will appoint athletic directors to find the best coach, but in Newcastle, they do the opposite. Likewise, no one could have anticipated Eals’ condition, and after this extraordinary and meaningful season, he now has to take good care of himself and his family.

Back to the starting point, there will be no winner in Mitchell's departure. If it is August, Howe looks around his locker room and sees the uncertainty in the players' eyes again. Again, to borrow Godusi’s metaphor, if building a club is really like building a house, then does Newcastle have a “suitable foundation”? Or are they being pushed down again in order to start over? One thing is certain, and their craftsmen cannot be expected to continue to clean up the pieces.