Premier League: Newcastle continue to win the window

Newcastle have recruited remarkably well this summer

Newcastle's excellent transfer dealings render them great value for a top-ten Premier League finish...

It isn't often that the manager of a club that lost 14 of their last 20 Premier League games discusses the possibility of challenging for a Champions League place, but Newcastle's recruitment has been so impressive that Alan Pardew is entitled to a little optimism.

After all, nobody thought it was possible in 2011/12 following their previous great summer window in which Davide Santon, Yohan Cabaye and Demba Ba arrived, and they missed out by only four points.

As odds of 75.074/1 indicate, a top-four finish is setting the bar too high - even in that exceptional season, they couldn't quite get over the line - yet 2.26/5 is an exceptional price for a top-half spot given that they made it to tenth with a four-point buffer last term despite their destructive spring.

That would mark progress if not absolute success for the Magpies, who haven't enjoyed consecutive top-ten campaigns since 2003/04. The top six would require two top teams to flop, hence a price of 10.09/1, but they are justified 4.1n/a favourites in the winner without the 2013/14 top seven market.

The signings of Daryl Janmaat, Jack Colback, Remy Cabella, Siem de Jong, Emmanuel Riviere and Ayoze Perez, coupled with the exciting loan acquisition of Facundo Ferreyra from Shakhtar Donetsk, who are suffering for their proximity to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, have reinvigorated the squad.

Cabella gives them the creative midfield force that was painfully absent after Cabaye's January sale, Riviere and Ferreyra both have the potential to reach double figures up front if they acclimatise, with de Jong providing a link between Cabella and the forwards.

Perez is probably one for the future - though he did score 16 times in the 2013/14 Spanish Segunda - while Colback is a versatile midfield option who gives them the added bonus of sticking one to Sunderland.

Newcastle have also shrewdly commenced next summer's business early by agreeing a bargain deal of around 7 million for Nottingham Forest's highly-regarded early-twenties double act Karl Darlow and Jamaal Lascelles.

Indeed, with Tim Krul perhaps their most saleable and desirable asset, it puts them in the strong bargaining position of having a long-term successor lined up in Darlow.

Recommended Bet: Back Newcastle to finish in the top ten @ 2.26/5