January 2022 saw Newcastle United recruit Kieran Trippier, Chris Wood, Bruno Guimaraes, Dan Burn and Matt Targett.

With a desperate relegation position inherited from Mike Ashley and Steve Bruce, Eddie Howe and the Newcastle United owners facing a survival bid against the odds, before they could even begin to talk about moving forward.

Kieran Trippier and Bruno Guimaraes have proved the most high profile of those opening transfer window signings.

However, they started only five (Trippier a bad injury) and eleven (Bruno allowed settling in time to a new country, league, culture) Premier League games that first half season at Newcastle United.

It was actually Dan Burn (16 starts), Matt Targett (16 starts) and Chris Wood (15 starts) that were the trio of signings that were key to that survival. Indeed, Bruno didn’t start a match until the 12th last game of the 2021/22 season. Eddie Howe already had the team on an eight match unbeaten run and five wins in their last six PL games.

Chris Wood was a superb short-term fix and Alexander Isak arrived in the summer 2022 window. Wood then moving on to Forest in January 2023 as he was behind both Isak and Wilson...