Oh, The Hokey Cokey!

You get a guy with one foot in, Janmaat out, Yedl-in, Saivet out and you shake the squad about, you do the transfer shuffle and you loan De Jong, that’s what it’s all about.

Yes it’s been a hectic couple of days in the transfer market for Newcastle and in the middle of it all was a hard fought home EFL Cup victory against Cheltenham Bruisers. With all the ins and outs in the last day or two it isn’t just the Newcastle strike force who are left a little concussed.

First of all – what about the game? Newcastle spluttered their way through the first half against a spirited away side and it looked as if was going to be a nightmarish cup-tie with Aarons and Mitrovic both leaving the field injured in the opening forty-five. And it looked even worse when Ayoze Perez had to go off to get the old ‘Terry Butcher look’ from the medical staff only to then return and almost instantly curl an unstoppable strike into the corner of the net to send Newcastle in front at the break.

The game then seemed to start going a little bit more to plan when Perez slid in a second shortly after half time. It seems we have stumbled across the secret of motivating young Ayoze…wrap his head in a bandage, it seems to focus his shooting remarkably. Newcastle created a few other chances but failed to increase their lead further. There was still time for another injury scare when top scorer Dwight Gayle had to go off with yet another head injury.

Thankfully for the attacking three, it appears their injuries are minor and the withdrawal from the field a rule sanctioned necessity where players with suspected concussions must not continue for their own safety. The injury sustained by Aarons looks altogether much worse and the club waits for further assessment. With the only other left wingers at the club being Yohan Goufran and Sammy Ameobi, that is a blow for Newcastle and surely Rafa must look at bringing a left wide man in before the window slams shut.

The transfers now then. The ‘outs’ first; De Jong out on loan seems to make sense. Let’s face it, it was unlikely anyone was going to offer serious money to take a player who has spent the majority of 24 months injured. He needs to go and get some much needed game time in a less physical league. Can you imagine if he played against Cheltenham? My goodness, the poor chap would have gone down in the pre-match handshakes with an injured wrist. His career on Tyneside may not be over though if he proves himself at PSV, he may come back and challenge for a place in the squad.

The Saivet one is weird. I mean why was the fella even signed in the first place? He has made four appearances…four. This is a player who played out wide on both the left and right hand side at Bordeaux before moving into centre mid. He also captained them, so he must be able to play a bit. Considering we are desperate for a wide man, there must be some personal stuff going on and he appeared delighted to be back in France so this one may not be down to footballing reasons. Amazing scouting job with that one though! What a waste of time, for Newcastle and the player.

Janmaat was expected by many to leave this summer and he finally makes a move to Premiership Watford for a reported £7.5m. That’s not a bad price for the full-back who on occasion looked a really decent player at Premiership level. He did leave us vulnerable at the back with his persistent charges down the right, but he also offered a really good outlet. Remember the part he played in Gini’s goal against West Ham last season after being released by Shelvey’s pass. His consistency suffered though and he wanted to leave so not too many fans will be overly disappointed.

He was only allowed to leave though when Newcastle had secured the services of American, former Sunderland loanee DeAndre Yedlin for an undisclosed fee thought to be around the £5million mark. Yedlin arrives on another one of these five year deals and has swapped Premiership bench-warming at Spurs for a crack at The Championship with Newcastle. He has bags of pace and is a threat going forward so it could be a good bit of business for Rafa as again he shows that he is not willing to let players go unless a replacement is secured. It does seem a bit strange though to bring Yedlin in and allow Mbabu to leave on loan, surely he could have provided cover with Gamez, Anita and Sterry also able to play at right back.

Benitez knows what he is doing though and seems to have a plan for this window and the next. Expect a busy end to August, he’s not done yet.