Warren Barton feels Newcastle United are missing player with 'X Factor' to make them true competitors
Eddie Howe has spun gold out of what he had to work with at Newcastle United, taking players like Jacob Murphy and Joelinton and turning them into top-class Premier League stars.
After bringing in six new players for the first team in the summer, Howe is slowly building a squad with the depth required to consistently challenge for honours.
Going from relegation favourites to Champions League qualifiers in Eddie Howe's first 18 months in charge set a dangerous level of expectation that, in fairness, the team haven't fallen far from.
Yes, they suffered in their first season back in the Champions League with the squad's lack of depth exposed, but then the following season, we qualified for the Champions League again while picking up a trophy along the way.
Warren Barton says Newcastle are missing that player who can turn a game on its head
However, there's still a belief that Newcastle still have a gap to close on the top clubs, and former Magpie Warren Barton believes they are missing that player who always manages something special even when nothing else is going right, as he revealed on the Highbury Squad's Inside The Dressing Room podcast.
“We haven’t got that. So that’s the next level for us, for Newcastle to be that next level team, is to find that X factor player that can do it when you’re not playing well like a Mo Salah he might bend it in the top corner.
“We haven’t got that yet.”
Newcastle may have had that X-Factor if things had worked out differently
You could argue that we did have that in Alexander Isak when he was actually putting in the effort. He had the ability to come up with a goal even when he was having an off day, but beyond that, we don't really have anyone who can consistently deliver those moments.
Bruno Guimaraes can turn it up a level when those around him are struggling, and he will try his hardest to turn things around, but he's just as capable of going missing when it matters.
If Newcastle can find that 'X-Factor' player, then we will definitely bridge that gap.
