Newcastle United have been convincingly bolstering the squad since Eddie Howe's appointment and the preceding PIF club takeover.
Where before success would come in the form of a comfortable Premier League finish away from the peril of a relegation dogfight, now the onus is on sniffing out European football and silverware, two tangible prospects after clinching top-four and gleaning silver in the Carabao Cup last term.
The Magpies are absolutely flying, and despite suffering a tough start to the 2023/24 campaign, losing three of their opening four matches – albeit against Manchester City, Liverpool and Brighton & Hove Albion – there is optimism that further emphatic feats can be achieved this year.
Alexander Isak from Real Sociedad
£63m
Sandro Tonali from AC Milan
£55m
Anthony Gordon from Everton
£45m
Bruno Guimaraes from Lyon
£40m
Harvey Barnes from Leicester
£39m
Howe and technical director Dan Ashworth have created a brilliant blend of success, with the moves on the transfer front both astute and accurate; apt moves to cement the newfound position at the forefront of European and domestic football.
Mind, the old guard still have a say, with the likes of Joelinton, Callum Wilson, Joe Willock and Sean Longstaff all playing key roles on Tyneside under Howe's wing since the 2021/22 term, where an imperilled position at the pit of the table was swiftly transformed, the launchpad for last year's exploits.
Perhaps the biggest resurgence, however, is that of Fabian Schar, who had fallen by the wayside under the tutelage of Steve Bruce, now an integral member of a fast-rising outfit.
Why did Newcastle sign Fabian Schar?
In July 2018, Newcastle completed the signing of centre-back Schar from Spanish side Deportivo La Coruna, meeting his reported £3m release clause, becoming Rafa Benitez's fourth signing of the summer.
Highly rated as a youngster, Schar had not quite lived up to the potential and moved to his former La Liga side after playing just one season in the German Bundesliga with Hoffenheim, making 32 appearances.
Despite this, he played a starring role in a Switzerland team that qualified from their group phase at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, earning an impressive average Sofascore rating of 7.03 across his three displays, making three interceptions and clearances per game, completing 84% of his passes and assuredly winning 59% of his duels.
His career had not quite taken off after his precocious performances with homeland side Basel, where he made 114 showings, demonstrating his prowess from an attacking sense in plundering 15 goals and eight assists, attracting a vested interest from Arsene Wenger's Arsenal.
How did Fabian Schar first perform at Newcastle?
Utilised sparingly in the opening segment of his maiden year on Tyneside, Schar would cement a more frequent starting berth for himself in the latter half of the 2018/19 season, finishing with 22 starts and an impressive four goals from central defence.
However, Benitez would leave that summer after months of discussion over a contractual extension proved fruitless, prompting an incensed response from a despondent fanbase, fearing regression.
Steve Bruce was the successor, but the experienced manager's arrival did not bode well for Schar's own development, and he was confined to a peripheral role, starting only 18 Premier League matches across the entirety of the 2019/20 campaign.
So infrequent was his time on the pitch, and, consequently, his importance to Bruce, that Jonjo Shelvey was used with greater regularity that season, starting 25 times and scoring six goals despite being branded a 'liability making them vulnerable' by the Telegraph's Luke Edwards.
More recently, journalist John Gibson claimed that the Swiss ace used to be a "walking mistake" for the Toon, though has now "eliminated" the flaws from his game under Howe's wing.
His performances say it all, with few daring to believe just a couple of years ago that the under-fire defender would star in a defensive axis bettered by none across the entirety of a Premier League campaign.
How good is Fabian Schar now?
Once rebuked for failing to harness his potential, Schar has risen to the fore late, yes, but done so in a rich profusion of vibrancy, even heralded for his "incredible" impact of late, as stated by Howe.
Last season, as Newcastle clinched Champions League qualification, Schar combined with £35m star man Sven Botman to serve as a veritable wall all term long, keeping 12 clean sheets and finishing the term as a centrepiece of the division's joint-best defence.
In fact, he has played 69 matches under Howe's stewardship, with only Joelinton – who has made 70 appearances – a more frequently-used component of this burgeoning Newcastle team.
As per FBref, the £40k-per-week titan also ranks among the top 1% of centre-backs across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for total shots, the top 8% for assists, the top 3% for shot-creating actions and the top 2% for touches in the attacking box per 90, highlighting just how “important at both ends” he is for his team, as was claimed by Statman Dave.
He's now completed 145 matches for United, scoring ten goals, and while Schar is now 31 years old, having also entered the final year of his contract at St. James' Park, he can take great pride in the fact that he has played an instrumental role in what looks to be a watershed season in the club's history, the start of, perhaps, something truly great.
Callum Wilson, also 31, has just penned a one-year contract extension on his current deal too, which could yet mean that Schar is next in line for a fresh proposal of his own.
For a player who was indeed, as harshly called, a 'walking mistake' – and one who held even less importance than Shelvey – Schar's rebirth as a starring member of Howe's cohesive outfit will leave him in fond memory at Newcastle for many, many years.