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By Aleksandar Mitrovic’s standards, his arrival on Tyneside was a somewhat low-key affair.

Comparing himself to Didier Drogba and Alan Shearer and then promising to “fight” for the black and white cause was small beer compared to some of the stuff that he’s managed to cram into four pretty stunning seasons in senior football.

Amid all the goals – and there were many for Anderlecht, hence the inflated price that Newcastle paid – he kept the headline writers busy in Belgium. The new Mario Balotelli might be a tired epithet but as a stock phrase denoting possible controversy, it might not be that far off the mark.

So, to recap. There’s the time he returned from an international break 5kg overweight on account of his love for pizzas. The obscene celebration – he says he’s cutting his tongue to get back at his doubters, but it does look like something else – and the red cards he picked up for Anderlecht for head-butting and supposedly spitting at fans.

Then there’s the hair-styles. Peroxide hot spots when he was at Partizan, then the mohican before settling on the cropped look that he sported as he swaggered into St James’ Park saying he’d happily accept the mantle of being Newcastle’s next great goalscorer.

But do you know what? He can play. Twenty-three league goals last season, 17 the year before. Then there’s the Champions League games and goals too. That’s what £13million buys you these days – not quite the finished article, but someone who could, potentially, be polished into a diamond.

Strip away the controversy – Chancel Mbemba is a quieter character, by all accounts – and you’ve got something similar in the soon-to-be Newcastle defender. He’s still young – how young seems to be up for some sort of debate – but he will arrive at Newcastle with a barrel-load of potential and a rare, raw talent.

Potential is something you’ll be hearing a lot about in the weeks before the start of the season. The Newcastle narrative so far this summer has been about the size of the fees that United are paying out but in fact, there’s something different at play here.

Other clubs, after all, are spending money. Crystal Palace have bought Yohan Cabaye; Swansea have signed Andre Ayew while West Ham moved for Dmitri Payet. These are players who are either at the peak of their powers or who are teetering just past the age when you’d expect them to be in their prime.

At St James’ Park, it looks different. Mbemba, Georginio Wijnaldum and Mitrovic are 21, 23 and 20 respectively yet have cost Newcastle as much as nearly any players in the Mike Ashley era. What that tells us is that McClaren is being bequeathed players of rich promise – and the utmost faith of a club who were stung by accusations of young stars being ‘Pardew-ed’ in a former era.

Newcastle enjoyed some success under their old manager but a valid accusation laid at his door was that few players actually got better on his watch – and the ones that did were generally those whose own desire to move on quickly motivated them to improve.

Of course there were exceptions. Paul Dummett improved and Ayoze Perez flourished at the start of last season but too many stagnated. Vurnon Anita, Moussa Sissoko, Massaido Haidara, Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, Davide Santon and Papiss Cisse all failed to maintain their initial impact.

In the development group, very few broke through. Sammy Ameobi, Gael Bigirimana, Haris Vuckic, Adam Campbell and even, latterly, Adam Armstrong lost momentum. Maybe they weren’t good enough, but it was enough of a problem for Newcastle to clear out the entire coaching staff this summer in what was a significant (and not cheap) move.

Throw Cheick Tiote and Hatem Ben Arfa into the mix and you have a considerable collection of talent who found it difficult to prosper.

If that happens to McClaren, and we see Wijnaldum, Mitrovic and Mbemba either not integrated into the team properly or hitting the wall like others have, then awkward questions might be asked.

But it says plenty about the faith being shown in McClaren’s talents that they are prepared to spend so big on players who are not the finished article.

Newcastle could have re-signed Cabaye and reflected on a £15million profit in 18 months while also bringing in a player who will certainly perform at a high level for a couple of years. To go elsewhere and bring in Wijnaldum – who may or may not hit the ground running – was an indication that they expect the coaching to move up a few levels this season.

(Image: PA Wire)

McClaren will lead from the front. He’s a hands-on head coach who has collected good references. Phil Neville, who worked with one or two men who knew their trade, reckoned he was the best coach he’d ever trained under.

Then there’s wildcard Ian Cathro, who has been making his voice heard in pre-season. The man hailed as a “genius” and a “visionary” by his old boss Nuno Santo at Valencia used to stop sessions and ask players why they played a certain pass. He wanted them to think “two steps ahead”.

This fresh thinking and progressive, innovative approach is exactly what Newcastle needed but there’s plenty riding on it being a success. Mike Ashley hasn’t suddenly indulged a shopping spree just for the sake of it: there will be pressure on Lee Charnley, McClaren and Graham Carr to get it right.

The charge laid at Newcastle’s door when they unveiled their management structure was that the head coach role was, perversely, the least important job of Charnley’s “triangle”. The MD held the power, the Chief Scout picked the players, right?

On the contrary, the evidence of the summer is that it is the most important – in more ways than one. The head coach must deliver on the training pitch.