'I've got no doubt': Newcastle United's £40m midfielder backs himself to be a 'top player' after shaky season
Newcastle United spent big in the summer transfer window and other than Malick Thiaw and that spell where Nick Woltemade was scoring goals, it hasn't exactly been money well spent.
Nick Woltemade hasn't scored in 14 games, Yoane Wissa missed half the season through injury (it's a bit harsh to include that, but it's a fact), Aaron Ramsdale (a loan signing) hasn't done enough to worry Nick Pope, Jacob Ramsey has had moments but hasn't done enough and then there's Anthony Elanga. I'm saying nowt.
Elanga's failure at Newcastle is a big surprise, but we're actually more disappointed with Jacob Ramsey. He seemed like he'd be the perfect player to come in and push Joelinton to the next level, but the £40 million signing from Aston Villa has done little to convince us that he should be starting ahead of any of our regular midfield trio.
In fact, he's well behind Lewis Miley, who is the closest one to pushing his way into the midfield three.
Jacob Ramsey admits it has been harder than he thought to break into the Newcastle side
If we're to be a bit fair on Ramsey, he has had a lot of injury issues before he joined the club and as a result, hadn't played a great deal of football in his last season at Villa, so there was some rust to knock off. BUt it's probably about time we started to see some return on our investment.
Ramsey himself is aware of the challenge he faces but has vowed to keep pushing, as he said in the matchday programme (via The Chronicle).
"But I don't really listen to the outside noise, I'm just trying to concentrate on my own performances. I know I can be a top player for this football club. I've got no doubt about that.
"I always knew that a new team would take some time to get used to, maybe a little bit longer than I wanted. But that's just part of moving to a new club and a new city. You've got to get comfortable first.
"I knew here I was coming to a huge football club with top midfield players, I knew it was going to be a difficult challenge to get into the midfield.
"But obviously every player thinks they can go straight into the team and play when the reality is the three players in the midfield have been top and it'll be difficult to come in. I've always had that self belief when I do get the opportunity I'll shine. That's what I've been trying to do."
The settling in period is surely over by now
It's been over half a season now, surely he's 'comfortable' enough at this point. It's time to start kicking on. The same goes for all of our summer signings.
I'm not going to sit here and write them all off. I just keep thinking about Lewis Hall and how good he became after having to be so patient with him.
The fact that Newcastle were so slow in the transfer market in the summer meant that Eddie Howe didn't have much of a pre-season with his new charges (Elanga aside), and there hasn't been much time to train this season due to the sheer number of fixtures, so hopefully, next season they will all improve dramatically.
More importantly, we hope that the club takes a lesson from this summer and works to get Howe his new players in as soon as possible to give him as much time to work with them over the break.
