Newcastle United have completed the signing of Amiens SC defender Emil Krafth for an undisclosed fee, the club have confirmed.
The deal is believed to be worth between €7m (£6.4m) and €8million (£7.3m), with the right-back penning a four-year contract on Tyneside, as he became our fourth senior signing of the summer, following Joelinton, Allan Saint-Maximin and Jetro Willems to the club.
His role on Tyneside is thought to be as someone who can challenge DeAndre Yedlin and Javier Manquillo for the starting position in Steve Bruce’s backline, but fans have been split in their views of the Sweden international.
While reacting to the club’s announcement of Krafth’s capture, fans suggested we had gone back to searching in the ‘bargain basement’ for players, rather than acquiring new talents that can improve who was already on hand at St James’ Park.
Krafth’s form in Ligue 1 last season and at the World Cup in Russia were particular areas of concern for supporters suggesting the 25-year-old will struggle to elbow-out Yedlin or Manquillo; as he ‘could not handle Dele Alli’ in the Quarter-Final and penned a worse minutes-per-successful tackle rate in France last term than our American right-back recorded in the Premier League.
There are some Toon supporters happy with the acquisition of the Les Licornes’ man, though, as his arrival solves a key weakness in the first-team in their opinion. But the dominant sentiment from the fanbase has been negative.
Here’s how these fans reacted…
Back to the #nufc i have become used to,bargain basement and freebies lol
— zapaz (@zapaz66) August 8, 2019
Back to our bargain basement hunting. Is he going to be better than Yedlin or Manquillo? I hope so, but his stats are poorer….#AshleyOut#JDSports
— Kyle Gallacher (@KyleGallacher5) August 8, 2019
Swedish Cafu
— Mr Michael (@MichaelMidd90) August 8, 2019
What an announcement they know how to do #workrafth
— śåmir ???? (@AGAVI23) August 8, 2019
I’m just glad he didn’t show fake love by saying it was his dream to be in Newcastle
— aliko_og (@BondaLuva) August 8, 2019
He couldn’t handle Dele Alli in the world cup Quarterfinal.
— FPL Scandinavia (@FplScandinavia) August 8, 2019
Welcome to the Toon bonny lad, hopefully you don’t read these comments … not sure how new players are supposed to feel with the constant negative tweets from the keyboard warriors. Howay the Lads! #nufc
— Graham Thompson (@Thoma69) August 8, 2019
Looks a decent player. Great to see two problematic areas in RB and LB addressed this summer
— Dean S (@S91Dean) August 8, 2019
Imagine if Benitez was still at the club, top 8 would have been a possibility
— Wout De Backer ???????????? (@debackerwout) August 8, 2019