Window weakness
Colback would perhaps be the best makeshift left-back option Benitez could call upon – the midfielder has played there on occasion for both Sunderland and Newcastle – but the 27-year-old has fallen out with his manager and it would require a mutual reconciliation for that to be an avenue the Spaniard would go down.
Instead, Benitez wanted an alternative option brought in last month. Ashley may well point to the money wasted on Lazaar and Gamez, as well as the full-back options Benitez already has at his disposal, and tell his manager he has more than enough resources to field a competitive side.
But Benitez is seeking constant self-improvement. He wanted Andros Townsend and an attacking midfielder in January in order to add greater creativity to his second-tier side, knowing that, beyond Jonjo Shelvey’s influence, they were predictable going forward.
Newcastle led the Championship table at that stage, yet they failed to make any additions and saw their form dip during the second half of the season, just as Benitez warned, rather than stroll away towards the title.
To fail to strengthen is not to stand still in football, it is to take three steps in reverse.
The Magpies have yet to learn that complacency gets you nowhere. Within five days, their foolish final fortnight of the window – in which United signed precisely no one – had already come back to bite them.
Newcastle’s hierarchy have once again failed to heed the advice of their manager, and they have instead left him short.
The failure to sign another leftback was not just illogical, it bordered upon negligible.