NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 04: Eddie Howe, manager of Newcastle United, looks on as Newcastle United supporters lift a banner reading 'We Are The Geordie Boys' ahead of the UEFA Champions League match between Newcastle United FC and Paris Saint-Germain at St. James Park on October 04, 2023 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. (Photo by James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images)
In 2020, he paid the club £15 million to join.
Newcastle United has had success in the transfer market in recent years, and the team has made significant investments in its first team roster as a result of its quick advancement.
The Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) acquired the Magpies in 2021, and thanks to Eddie Howe’s outstanding work in turning the team around, the club was able to avoid any imminent threat of relegation.
High-profile arrivals to the club, such Sven Botman, Alexander Isak, and Bruno Guimaraes, have been made possible by the takeover; these three are integral parts of Howe’s formidable Magpies team.
But the club has also made some questionable financial decisions in recent years; Matt Targett is one example of a transfer that hasn’t turned out the way either party had intended.
Targett’s disastrous transfer to St James’ Park was not the only player whose big-money move to the Magpies backfired, forcing both the player and the club to sever their relations.
Following a stellar Premier League season for Norwich City, Newcastle capitalised on the Canaries’ relegation by acquiring left-back Jamal Lewis for a reported £15 million, turning down Liverpool’s offer.
The news that Lewis will be joining the team in 2020 was truly exciting. But following a strong debut season, the defender rapidly fell down the Magpies’ hierarchy.
Twenty of Lewis’s twenty Premier League appearances during his debut season at the club were from the starting position. Lewis played just six minutes in the league following the 1-1 draw against Wolves in February.
The 26-year-old only made seven appearances during the course of the following two Premier League seasons before departing the team on a temporary basis this season and going down to the Championship for the first time since Norwich’s 2018–19 promotion campaign.
After his lack of minutes at St James’ Park, the left-back completed a season-long loan to Watford in the Championship – a move that has allowed Lewis to gain valuable first-team minutes.
He’s since made 28 appearances for the Hornets in the second-tier, with the Northern Ireland international finally starting to regain some form after a couple of seasons without regular football.
The lack of football on Tyneside has seen the defender’s market value crash from £15m down to just £3m as per Transfermarkt – five times less than what the club paid for him just four years ago.
To put that into context, four players are valued higher in the whole Watford squad while it would rank him as 23rd for transfer valuation among the playing staff at St James’, below that of the aforementioned Targett.
His move at the time may have been a promising one for both Newcastle and Lewis, but it’s been nothing short of a disaster. With the defender having one-year left on his deal at St James’, the summer could present the Magpies’ last opportunity to sell Lewis and recoup some of the £15m they paid for him.
