Last season, Newcastle United were sensational under the tutelage of Eddie Howe and provided Tyneside with its most enthralling campaign in two decades.
Ending a 20-year absence from the Champions League with a fourth-place finish in the Premier League, the Magpies really did soar and eclipsed the strategy that would have been mapped out under the new PIF ownership.
The affluent transformation was supposed to turn St. James' Park around, but few could have envisaged such a meteoric rise, finishing above the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea, and Tottenham Hotspur in the top flight.
This was down to the incredible cohesion interwoven into the squad, Howe's leadership blending astute tactical understanding with individual understanding of their roles within the team as a collective.
The 71-point seasonal total was the highest since 2001/02, under the management of Sir Bobby Robson and spearheaded by indomitable goalscorer Alan Shearer.
And the foundation of the exploits lay in the resilience of the backline, finishing the term with the joint-meanest defence in the league; this season, the solidity has been carried over if looking a little frailer, but only slightly so.
Sven Botman's injury concerns, however, do highlight the issue of not bolstering at the back over the summer, and while the Toon may rue missed opportunities of late, one erstwhile Newcastle ace, Chancel Mbemba, would bring the perfect set of skills to aid the club's endeavours.
How much did Newcastle spend on Chancel Mbemba?
In 2015, Newcastle completed the £8m acquisition of DR Congo defender Mbemba from Belgian side Anderlecht, with the exciting prospect – aged 20 at the time – part of an exciting summer that saw Gini Wijnaldum and Aleksander Mitrovic also join the fold.
It was an exciting move at first but unfortunately did not prove to be auspicious for the club or the player, with a youthful Mbemba failing to influence the squad across his 33 league starts as the Toon spiralled inexorably toward the jaws of relegation.
Why did Newcastle sell Chancel Mbemba?
Despite a promising transfer window, Newcastle's 2015/16 campaign resulted in the second relegation under the ownership of the deplored Mike Ashley, and while such a setback could have been viewed as a good chance for a young talent such as Mbemba to explore his skills in the second tier, he only flattered to deceive.
Indeed, the 5 foot 11 defender only managed 12 Championship showings all year under Rafa Benitez, and despite his potential, it was not surprising when Portuguese giants Porto sealed his services for £7m in July 2018.
Shearer would remark that the struggling ace looked "out of sorts" during his stint at the club, though his exploits across recent years illustrate the skills at his disposal and how he perhaps wasn't provided with apt time and care to nurture the best of his abilities.
How good is Chancel Mbemba now?
After that spell with Porto, where he completed 138 appearances and won two league titles, he would depart on a free transfer in 2022 and pen a contract with French Ligue 1 team Marseille.
Plying his trade at the Orange Velodrome to this day, the 69-cap international has completed 57 games and remarkably netted nine goals, scoring seven last season and notably netting against Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League.
The 29-year-old has already bagged twice this season and offers an attacking dimension from defence that few of his position can offer – with Brighton & Hove Albion feeling the power of his punch last month.
As per FBref, he ranks among the top 1% of centre-backs across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for goals scored, the top 11% for progressive passes and the top 10% for progressive carries per 90, showcasing the core qualities tailor-made for ambitious outfits targetting top-level success.
The £64k-per-week titan has also been praised for his “formidable” demeanour on the pitch by former Newcastle teammate Henri Saivet, and given the way that United play under Howe, his progressive, crisp abilities would only bolster a defence lacking in depth.
Last season, the defensive axis of Botman and Fabian Schar worked a treat, but with Botman spending time on the sidelines this year, it's pretty clear where the club's transfer priority will lie next summer.
And given that Schar and regularly-benched club captain Jamal Lascelles are both out of contract next June, Mbemba could have been the perfect option to have saved the club millions.
How good is Fabian Schar?
Schar has been a man reborn since Newcastle's fortunes so superbly spun around, with the Swiss now among the first names of the teamsheet after previously being branded a "walking mistake" by journalist John Gibson.
The 31-year-old has now accumulated 152 displays for the Magpies since joining from Spanish side Deportivo La Coruna after his £3m release clause was met. Last year, he started 36 times in the Premier League, very much crucial to the best year at Newcastle in a very long time.
This year, Schar has played every minute of every match across the Premier League and Champions League, and while he is effective enough to serve in his prominent role, the aforementioned Botman's injury woes means that Lascelles is the only other option at the back – with Dan Burn now firmly deployed in the left-back position.
Still at the centre of his side's feats, Schar is both dynamic and enterprising, with his recent wonder goal against Paris Saint-Germain highlighting just how “important at both ends” the £40k-per-week titan is – as was previously stated by Statman Dave.
Mbemba
Schar
0.21
0.03
0.03
0.08
0.97
1.43
83.1%
80%
5.16
3.37
1.23
0.66
0.35
0.16
1.70
1.33
1.23
1.19
2.14
2.73
As the table illustrates, however, Mbemba arguably brings more to the table than his 6 foot 1 counterpart, who is very good and has slotted in next to Botman like a dovetail joint, but he is not indispensable and remains out of contract in June – something that has not yet been dealt with by the club's hierarchy.
With this in mind, perhaps a colossus of Mbemba's standing could have been the perfect option to complement an industrious, fearsome phenom such as Botman at the back.
Or maybe he would have just provided some more cover for a club now competing across four competitions this season, and currently doing so with limited options at the heart of the backline.
