Former Aston Villa boss makes Newcastle United transfer claim amid Norwich relegation fight

Former Aston Villa manager Dean Smith claims that Newcastle United were ‘always going to improve’ following their injection of cash flow in the January transfer window and in turn making Norwich City’s life far more difficult to survive.

The Magpies brought in Kieran Trippier, Bruno Guimaraes, Dan Burn and Chris Wood on permanent deals whilst also adding Villa’s Matt Targett on loan.

Those permanent deals alone cost just shy of £100million and though Smith acknowledged that he believes Eddie Howe is a good manager, he claimed that it was near impossible for them not to improve after spending that amount of money.

“You just look at the January window they have had,” he said.

“They have improved. Eddie’s an unbelievable coach.

“But they’re owned pretty much by a country, so they’re always going to improve.”

Smith has received a bit of flack from fans of the Toon Army for his comments considering the boyhood Villan spent not far from that amount when adding to the claret and blue’s squad this summer.

Emiliano Buendia cost a club record fee whilst Leon Bailey and Danny Ings also cost big money. However, those transfers still didn’t total the amount that Manchester City spent on former captain Jack Grealish so maybe his comments do deserve a little bit of leeway.

Smith was sacked from Villa following a run of five successive defeats in November and will return to Villa Park for the first time as an opposing manager when he brings his Canaries to town this Saturday (April 30).

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