Chris Waugh shares what he believes is Paul Mitchell's most difficult task as NUFC Sporting Director

Paul Mitchell has a lot to prove to Newcastle United fans after his false start in the summer, but his reputation and history suggest that he has what it takes to be a success at the club.

We are approaching the January transfer window which will be Mitchell's first full window in the sporting director's chair and the Magpies are expecting big things.

However, we should probably temper our expectations as January isn't the best window to do big business as teams are often reluctant to sell mid-season, and buying clubs are wary of over-spending in January and facing the wrath of the PSR overlords in the summer.

This is why fans are wondering if we should expect to see Newcastle playing in the free transfer sandbox, especially when it comes to defenders given that we have several 'senior citizens' (over 30s) in our defensive ranks.

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Paul Mitchell has to reduce the average age of the Newcastle squad

Newcastle have no less than five defenders who have gone beyond the 30 mark and while we have our fullback options covered for the future with youngsters Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento, we only really have Lloyd Kelly and Sven Botman as young centre-backs.

This is why Chris Waugh believes one of the toughest missions on Paul Mitchell's to-do list is to reduce the overall age of the squad while keeping quality high, as he outlined in his weekly Q&A for The Athletic.

"There is a recognition that age is an issue for the defence in particular — Kieran Trippier (34), Dan Burn (32), Emil Krafth (30), Jamaal Lascelles (30) and Fabian Schar (32) are 30 or older and succession planning is required. Sven Botman (24), Hall (20), Livramento (22) and Kelly (26) could feasibly remain long-term, but the wider defensive pool needs to become younger.

"That is one of Mitchell’s key tasks as sporting director: to reduce the average age of the squad, while also attempting to add depth and improve quality."

It's a process and it's going to take time

The big problem with the free transfer market is it's quite often filled with players no younger than those we're trying to replace.

However, there can be the odd contract rebel, a player looking for a new challenge and this is their way out.

It's not a problem that we expect to be fixed in the next two transfer windows; we're probably looking at a couple of years before Mitchell is able to bring the average age down.