Signed for £12m, now worth £3.6m: Ashley had a shocker on £35k-p/w Newcastle liability - opinion

Under the new ownership of Saudi Arabia’s PIF, Newcastle United were not shy in splashing the cash during the recent January transfer window to strengthen Eddie Howe’s squad and give themselves the best possible chance of avoiding relegation this season.

Despite new faces coming in such as Kieran Trippier, Chris Wood, Bruno Guimaraes, Dan Burn and Matt Targett, Howe has had to work with a variety of players who were already at the club and brought in during the previous ownership of Mike Ashley.

One of those players, who has seen his market value drop significantly since arriving at St James’ Park, is Jacob Murphy.

Newcastle signed the 26-year-old back in 2017 from Norwich City in a deal worth a reported fee of £12m, almost twice his then-Transfermarkt valuation of £6.3m.

Since then, after two loan spells away from Tyneside with West Bromwich Albion and Sheffield Wednesday, the winger has racked up 91 appearances for the Toon across all competitions, scoring just five goals and providing eight assists along the way.

Murphy’s current market value stands at £3.6m according to Transfermarkt, which is significantly lower than the fee Newcastle paid for him in the first place.

Despite making 18 appearances in the league this season, the former Norwich man has only scored one goal and provided one assist, with an underwhelming overall performance rating of 6.39/10 according to WhoScored.

Taking all that into account, Newcastle’s move for the Englishman, who is currently picking up £35k-per-week according to Salary Sport, did not turn out to be one of the best acquisitions under Ashley’s reign.

Moving forward, if Newcastle can avoid relegation this season, they should consider letting Murphy go when the summer transfer window