£9.8m wasted: "Out of his depth" Newcastle dud has been taking liberties for 131 weeks - opinion

Even before their wealthy new owners took over the club, Newcastle United were still able to splash out significant sums of money on new players to help strengthen their squad.

However, as almost all clubs have found out one way or another, not all transfers end up being particularly successful.

One player that was brought into the Tyneside club prior to the Saudi takeover that has not been a big hit for the Toon is right-back Emil Krafth, who made the move to St. James’ Park 131 weeks ago back in the 2019 summer transfer window from Ligue 1 side Amiens in a deal worth around £5m on a four-year contract.

Since joining the Magpies, the Sweden international, who is currently picking up a weekly wage of £37k-per-week according to Salary Sport, has racked up 50 appearances across all competitions, chipping in with one goal and two assists along the way.

This season has been a rather disappointing one for the defender, with just eight league appearances under his belt and an overall performance rating of 6.33/10 making him one of Newcastle’s lowest-rated players according to WhoScored, this suggests that he may not be suited to playing in the Premier League under Eddie Howe.

Having been described as looking “out of his depth” in the past by Ian Wright, this backs up just how unsuited he is to play in this side and why it may have been a mistake from the club to bring him to St. James’ Park in the first place.

With that in mind, it’s safe to say that Krafth has been a big waste of money for the club, who have now spent a total figure of £9.8m on his from his transfer fee and weekly wages combined.

Moving forward, with Newcastle’s new owners showing throughout the recent January transfer window just how capable they are of