Newcastle transfer philosophy: Why Magpies are aiming to emulate Borussia Dortmund's work on young players

When the Saudi PIF takeover of Newcastle was completed in late 2021 the new ownership set about adding age and experience to their newly acquired investment.

By the end of their first January transfer window Kieran Trippier, Chris Wood and Dan Burn, all in their late 20s and early 30s with more than 1,200 professional appearances between them, had done just that.

Younger, highly-rated players in Bruno Guimaraes from Lyon, Real Sociedad's Alexander Isak and Italy midfielder Sandro Tonali Everton winger Anthony Gordon followed over the next 18 months as Newcastle's philosophy began to cement to blend quality, experience and potential to gatecrash the Premier League's big boys.