Forgotten at the Airport, Beaten in the Market: Newcastle's Window of Woe

From losing Benjamin Šeško to leaving Matt Targett in Seoul, Newcastle United’s summer has unravelled into farce, raising serious questions about ambition, planning and who exactly is steering things

There have been many a daft transfer window in the history of this fine game. Some chaotic, some uneventful, some simply riddled with bad luck. But every now and again, a club manages to stitch together an entire summer that feels like a sitcom written by someone who has never seen a football match. Step forward, Newcastle United, who have delivered a masterclass in missteps, misfires and mild madness.

This has been the summer of forgetting players, being outbid despite bidding the most, and letting targets slip away faster than a Greggs pasty on a Tyneside breeze. And the locals are not laughing. Not anymore.

Left Behind in Seoul, and Other Tales of Pre-Season Chaos

Let’s start at the airport, shall we? Matt Targett, bless him, found himself starring in his own personal episode of Home Alone: The South Korea Special after being left behind by his own club. As daft as it sounds, this is not something out of a sketch show. Newcastle literally forgot a player at the airport in Seoul.

The story was so ridiculous that even non-football fans raised an eyebrow. How does this happen in the Premier League in 2025, in the age of player tracking, AI analysis, and meticulously planned travel itineraries? The bus rolled out, the plane took off, and Matt Targett was left presumably with his passport, his headphones, and a growing sense that he had been completely forgotten.

If the club’s logistics staff were hoping for anonymity this summer, they picked the wrong window to go missing in action.

Transfer Targets Turned Transfer Teasers

Now, we move to Benjamin Šeško. A player pursued with hope, promise and more money than Manchester United were willing to put on the table. That should have been the end of it. In normal footballing logic, the club that bids more tends to secure the player. But Newcastle, gloriously and bafflingly, defied that logic.

Šeško chose Manchester United, even though Newcastle’s offer was larger. And you cannot blame him, really. United are on the rise again, whether we like it or not. Šeško saw the bigger picture. A young striker choosing the club with a better plan and more consistent communication. It left Newcastle red-faced, out of pocket and still short of a proper number nine.

As NUFC Feed so sharply put it, “Only Newcastle could outbid a club and still lose out on the player.”

And they weren’t done there. Oh no.

The Worst Transfer Window Ever?

Those same NUFC Feed voices went one step further and labelled it “the worst transfer window ever.” Now, that may sound like hyperbole. But when you line up the facts, it becomes harder to argue otherwise.

No marquee signings. No future-proofing. No serious statement of intent.

Even the deals that did happen have been met with raised eyebrows. Lewis Hall made his move permanent, yes, but his arrival has not inspired confidence. There is a sense among fans that it was done out of obligation more than ambition.

While others strengthen with purpose, Newcastle seem to have been caught between two stalls, unsure whether to spend big or hold back. And in doing neither, they’ve managed to irritate both their fanbase and their financial backers.

The once proud promise of PIF-led dominance looks a touch thinner now. Oil money might be endless, but patience is not.

Midfield Mayhem and the Longstaff Departure

For all the noise about fresh ambition and spending power, Newcastle’s midfield has somehow gone backwards. Bruno Guimarães remains the heartbeat, but around him the options have thinned alarmingly.

Sean Longstaff, a player who gave everything for the shirt and understood the rhythm of Howe’s system, has been sold to Leeds United. He was never the flashiest, but he was reliable, homegrown, and trusted. His departure feels like a backwards step, not a forward one.

Joelinton, meanwhile, is staying put, having committed his future with a contract extension to 2028. A rare bit of business done right, but a solitary success does not mask the gaps.

There has been no new engine room signing to push the team on. No young midfielder ready to learn and grow. It is as though the club expected last season’s fatigue to magically lift itself.

This midfield, once built on balance and bite, now looks worryingly brittle.

A Squad Thin Enough to See Through

With Champions League football last season and ambitions to build on it, this summer was meant to be a moment of real growth. A statement summer. Instead, it’s looked more like a badly run raffle, where the best prizes were gone before Newcastle’s name was even pulled from the bowl.

A club on the edge of Europe’s elite should not look this undercooked. And yet, here we are.

The squad looks thin. Injuries to Isak or Guimarães would feel like a crisis. Trippier, once the masterstroke of this project, now feels like a player slowly approaching the sunset. The bench is uninspiring and the starting eleven unchanged.

There has been no meaningful effort to back up the claims of a club rising to challenge the top four. Instead, they have managed to fall behind Spurs, Aston Villa and perhaps even West Ham in terms of transfer ambition.

The Howe Question

And now we reach the man in the dugout. Eddie Howe, who did a phenomenal job lifting Newcastle from the wilderness, now finds himself exposed by a lack of support.

You cannot ask a man to build a fortress with matchsticks. Howe has worked wonders before, but this is the Premier League. If the summer feels like sabotage, that is because it probably is.

His team has been outbid for talent, outfought in the market and out-thought in strategy. And all the while, the expectation remains to deliver top-four football. It does not add up.

What Happens Next?

Newcastle fans are not a naïve bunch. They know success takes time. But they also know what a bad window looks like, and this one is shaping up to be a classic of the genre.

The owners have spoken of ambition. The club have spoken of sustainability. The fans, for their part, have spoken of frustration. All are fair. But talk needs to be backed up by proper recruitment, not pre-season sitcoms and second-choice signings.

The next few weeks will define the season. Not on the pitch, but in boardrooms and WhatsApp chats with agents. Newcastle must act, and act quickly, if they are to avoid sleepwalking into irrelevance again.

Because for all the money, all the noise, and all the talk of a new era, you cannot build a new castle with the foundations of an old one crumbling beneath your feet.

If this window gets any worse, Matt Targett might start asking if he can just stay in Seoul. At least there, someone might remember to pick him up.

Of course, the Matt Targett airport story was made up. Just a bit of parody. No one was actually left behind in Seoul. But the fact it felt believable, that it even gained traction, tells you everything about how Newcastle’s window is being viewed.

When your club becomes the punchline, it’s usually a sign something has gone badly wrong.