So far this season Newcastle United find themselves in 15th place in the league – based on the average age of players featured in games according to Football Observatory.
With Southampton topping the table with the youngest squad this season, Newcastle find themselves near the bottom with 38.7% of players to play this season 30 years old or above.
I never viewed Newcastle as having an ageing squad but the figures suggest we really need to start investing more in youth.
The Magpies currently have eleven players 30 and over in the squad of which seven have Premier League minutes under their belt this season. These include Kieran Trippier, Nick Pope, Fabian Schar Dan Burn and Callum Wilson who are all integral players, along with Jonjo Shelvey who hasn’t kicked a ball so far this season.
Now, hitting the 30 mark isn’t the Premier League death sentence it once was, I mean, look at Christiano Ronaldo, he’s 37 and would walk into almost any team in the league, but there is no doubt that a good side needs some youth in there.
Is The Average Age In The Squad A Concern?
Yes
No
Newcastle have up and coming Elliot Anderson as their youngest player at 19 and then he’s followed by Sven Botman who is 22 which is quite a jump. It highlights the problem Newcastle have with youth players. Ever since Keegan scrapped the Under 21s back in the 90’s, Newcastle have struggled when it comes to recruiting and progressing youth players, often allowing them to leave before they hit their potential. Recently we let Bobby Clark go to Liverpool despite fans having him earmarked as a definite one for the future.
With Dan Ashworth now installed it’s likely that these policies will change and more youngsters will get their chance in the first team, and hopefully, we will be better at scooping up local talent and developing them. It already looks like they are looking for young talent to join the ranks with a few signings made in the off-season in the guise of Alex Murphy and Charlie McArthur. It’s also looking like Newcastle are going to win the race to sign Australian wonderkid, Garang Kuol who has been tipped to be a huge star.
So while Newcastle sit in the bottom half of the age league this season, it’s going to be interesting to see how that changes going forward under Dan Ashworth.
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