Season Rating (While On Loan): 5 Success Of Sale Rating: 6 Newcastle United completed a £7 million double swoop for goalkeeper Karl Darlow and defender Jamaal Lascelles from Nottingham Forest at the beginning of August 2014 - and then immediately loaned the pair back to the Championship club for the season. The pair will arrive on Tyneside this summer ready for next season, but the early signs are not overly promising. Seeing as Lascelles was 50% of the entire fee paid for the Forest duo, the £3.5 million the Magpies have invested for the 21-year-old centre-back seems a modest price to pay. However, Lascelles has not had a great season - both on and off the pitch. In December, the defender appeared in court over an alleged assault in a Derby nightclub - although all charges were dropped. Then on the field, Lascelles started just 20 Championship games as he struggled to get into the Forest first team. If he is struggling to get into a Championship team, what's he going to be like in the Premier League? True he is young and still has time to develop - and he has all the raw attributes to be a success - but he has not had a great year. The problem here was probably not loaning Lascelles back out, but signing him in the first place. It will be a major risk bringing him into a Premier League squad next season.
NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.
