Ross Wilson’s Best Transfer Signings And What Newcastle United Might Expect

Ross Wilson has already had a strong career before being snapped up as Newcastle United’s new sporting director.

The Magpies were desperate to get their decision spot on as to who would replace Paul Mitchell this summer.

The club did their transfer business without anyone specific in charge of the role in order to ensure they did their due diligence and did not rush an appointment.

Now with Wilson at the helm, the former Rangers and Southampton chief will work closely with Eddie Howe to help shape the squad for the coming seasons including from the next transfer window in January.

Wilson has had success at other clubs in the past including Nottingham Forest and Saints while his record at Ibrox with the Light Blues was perhaps less than stellar.

Ross Wilson’s best transfers at Rangers, Southampton and Nottingham Forest

He did have a hand in taking Forest from relegation candidates to European football with Nuno Espirito Santo who was recently sacked while Rangers reached the Europa League Final in 2022.

Wilson’s role at St James’ Park will be to plan for the short, medium and long-term and the Scot has experience in doing just that in previous roles.

And we had a look at some of the top signings he has helped secure at his former clubs to give Newcastle fans the big picture on what they might expect from him at their club.

Virgil van Dijk

Southampton snapped up the Dutchman for just £13million from Celtic back in 2015 with Wilson clearly using his knowledge of the Scottish game to take a chance on the defender.

He would spend three years at St Mary’s before being sold to Liverpool for a whopping £75m.

Callum Hudson-Odoi

Nottingham Forest spent less than £4m on the attacking playmaker and turned him into a top Premier League talent after he left Chelsea.

He has 14 goals and six assists in 80 appearances over his time at the City Ground.

Calvin Bassey

Joined Rangers from Leicester City at a pittance and played a big role in their Scottish Cup victory in 2022.

He also turned in a man of the match showing in the Europa League Final which they narrowly lost before he joined Ajax for £19.3m as one of the club’s biggest ever sales.

Joined Fulham to play Premier League after that.

Anthony Elanga

Signed for Forest for close to £15m and became a top talent there before he left for Newcastle. Made the club a pretty profit of near £40m and will now be reunited with Wilson on Tyneside.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V8JKolL5Bc

Nico Raskin

The Belgian international is now rubbing shoulders with Kevin de Bruyne with the Red Devils having played well for Rangers since he joined the club from Standard Liege.

Aston Villa like Raskin and could take him in January which will likely bring about a tidy sum.

Malik Tillman

This one turned out to be a very decent bit of business at Rangers. Tillman joined on loan from Bayern Munich in 2022 and performed admirably.

There was a £5m future fee agreement attached which the Scottish side were considering before Bayern reneged on the deal.

As a result they were forced to pay Rangers £1m as a penalty for cancelling the agreement. Not bad to receive cash for a player who does not even belong to you.

Nikola Milenkovic

Was not an expensive signing, all things considered, when he joined Forest from Fiorentina last year.

Has since become one of the top performers for the club and was player of the year last season.