Newcastle United's head of recruitment Steve Nickson is a man in demand after it emerged West Ham United are keen on poaching the transfer guru.
Nickson's Rise at Newcastle
Nickson has a key role at the Magpies and has become increasingly influential within the club. He joined Newcastle in 2014 as Under-21 scout but when former boss Rafa Benitez shook things up in the scouting department in 2018, the 61-year-old replaced Graham Carr on Tyneside. Since then he has been involved in a host of brilliant deals that have benefited the club.
Nickson was singled out for praise by co-owner Amanda Staveley after his work helping her and husband Mehrdad Ghoudoussi in the early stages of the PIF tenure. Staveley said back in 2022: "Mehrdad and I and our PIF colleagues went up to the club and it was a lonely place. Fortunately, we have an amazing head of recruitment in Steve Nickson, who has been with the club for a long time and has a really deep knowledge of the player markets. So we were able to quickly put together a transfer committee."
With the recruitment chief's future now uncertain, here's a rundown of Nickson's success stories so far.
Ayoze Perez
Nickson's initial brief at Newcastle was to find players that could have sell-on potential between the ages of 17 and 21. When Nickson spent time flying back and forth to Tenerife to look at a young forward called Perez, those four-and-a-half-hour flights proved worthwhile. It would be remiss not to mention former managing director Lee Charnley in this deal as he pushed hard to win the race to sign Perez with the likes of Borussia Dortmund and the B teams of Barcelona and Real Madrid keen on the then 20-year-old. But the fight was worth winning as he scored 48 goals for the Magpies and then went on to earn a £30 million move to Leicester. Despite some fury at the time from supporters, nobody could deny it was good business for a player that had cost just over £1.5 million.
Miguel Almiron
Rafa Benitez made it clear he wanted the former MLS playmaker but Nickson clocked up some air miles to make this deal a reality. Nickson jetted out to Atlanta in November 2018 to do the hard yards for the deal and set up vital meetings. By the time he'd filed his final report to Newcastle, all that was needed was an agreement on a fee, and while that took some time for Mike Ashley to sign off, the £21 million package went through in late January 2019.
Allan Saint-Maximin
The Saint-Maximin deal was all but tied up before Steve Bruce was appointed head coach of Newcastle in 2019. While Bruce gave it the green light, it was stressed that the winger was a player United were keen on based on the scouting reports of Nickson and his team. Bruce's man-management actually brought the best out of Saint-Maximin and he helped the team stay up in 2019/20 and 2020/21, winning the Chronicle's player of the year award back-to-back. The winger was something of an enigma but got fans off their seats and was an absolute snip at £16.5 million, with Nickson using his knowledge of French football to bring Saint-Maximin to the table.
Joelinton
At one stage the combination of the No. 9 shirt and a £40 million price tag weighed heavy on Joelinton. But he came good after a positional switch and has racked up more than 200 appearances for the club. Nickson lobbied heavily for Joelinton in 2019 but Rafa Benitez wanted to spend the £40 million elsewhere in the team, perhaps understandably given how tight the previous owner was. Nickson's contacts with agency ROGON, who looked after Joelinton, helped eventually push the deal through. This was another transfer ready to go for Bruce, and while the former boss struggled to get the best out of him, Howe's tactical acumen and work on the training ground—using Joelinton in midfield and on the left side of attack at times—has proven the Brazilian was worth the money.
Kieran Trippier
Established players like Trippier don't need to be scouted as much, but it was Nickson who worked closely with CAA Base Ltd to get this deal in place back in January. Don't forget Manchester United were also in the hunt for Trippier, yet the deal was completed within a week of the first window under PIF. A marquee signing and a memorable first purchase for the new owners, given Newcastle didn't have a director of football or managing director, Nickson's role to step up and get Trippier signed was appreciated by the co-owners at St James' Park.
Bruno Guimaraes
The £33.5 million signing from Lyon has turned himself into a Newcastle legend. Bruno is a true Rolls Royce of a midfielder who will go down in history as one of the club's greats. The Brazil international was looked at extensively by Nickson and his scouting team, with their contacts in South America helping get this deal done. It was a whirlwind deal and Lyon weren't exactly sure they wanted to sell him. Once it became known that Lyon were open to selling the midfielder, Newcastle were ready to go, and Nickson was waiting in place to push the deal through in Brazil, beating the likes of Arsenal to his signature. What a signing he has turned out to be.
Antonio Cordero
Similar to the Ayoze Perez signing, this is one where Nickson used his contacts in Spain to secure the highly-rated wide forward from Malaga. Newcastle ended up signing Cordero on a free transfer after the expiry of his deal, using Nickson's intimate knowledge of contract clauses. While they have yet to see the benefit, with the player immediately sent out on loan, this is a signing for the future.
Nick Woltemade
When Newcastle were in a hole last summer after the Alexander Isak saga and numerous strikers turned them down, it was Nickson who stepped up to deliver. The transfer chief coordinated scouting missions to Germany and the Euro U21 finals last year and enabled Newcastle to pounce when Bayern Munich stalled over the 6ft 4in frontman, completing a club-record deal in almost absolute secrecy with news only breaking when the transfer was all but done. Woltemade hit the ground running before stalling somewhat, but the forward remains one of the most highly-rated young strikers in Europe.
