Newcastle United will probably be hoping that their current wonderful run of type ensures they’ve the very best probability doable of ending within the prime 4 of the Premier League.
After lacking out on the Champions League by way of their league end throughout 2023/24, Eddie Howe will not need that to occur once more, particularly after tasting what Europe’s premier membership competitors has to supply.
With a view to obtain this, Howe might want to bulk out his squad with just a few reinforcements this month.
One space that could be a precedence is the attacking division. Alexander Isak is having fun with a beautiful marketing campaign up to now, scoring 17 goals and grabbing 5 assists on the time of writing in all competitions.
Ought to he endure an damage, nonetheless, Howe doesn’t have many choices to name upon, suggesting one other striker is crucial.
Elsewhere, signing a defender or two would even be a large enhance to Howe’s possibilities of main the membership again into the promised land of the Champions League.
A number of targets have been recognized of late. The query is, will any of them safe a transfer to St James’ Park earlier than the switch window closes in a few weeks?
Newcastle United’s January switch targets
In current days, Newcastle have sent scouts to watch Parma goalkeeper Zion Suzuki with regard to creating a transfer to deliver him to the North east this month.
Moreover, the Toon sent chief scout Steve Nickson to look at Brentford winger Bryan Mbeumo in motion in opposition to Manchester Metropolis through the 2-2 draw that passed off midweek.
The Bees are demanding a payment of round £50m for any membership to safe his signature, however they will not be entertaining bids this month.
With Lloyd Kelly rising as a key transfer target for José Mourinho’s Fenerbahçe of late, may Howe money in on a participant who solely joined the membership final summer time? Making a stable revenue within the course of.
|
Newcastle’s 5 earlier January signings |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Participant |
Membership signed from |
12 months |
|
Anthony Gordon |
Everton |
2023 |
|
Harrison Ashby |
West Ham |
2023 |
|
Bruno Guimaraes |
Lyon |
2022 |
|
Chris Wooden |
Burnley |
2022 |
|
Dan Burn |
Brighton |
2022 |
In that case, he might want to add one other centre-back to his squad earlier than the top of the window. May he flip to Portugal to search out the proper substitute?
Newcastle have scouted Sporting defender
Ousmane Diomande is a reputation aware of the Newcastle help. The membership tried to signal the centre-back through the summer time switch window, however his £67m release clause proved to be an excessive amount of, particularly with PSR guidelines.
May they make it second time fortunate, nonetheless? In response to Portuguese outlet A Bola (by way of Flashscore), the Magpies have despatched scouts to watch his performances for Sporting of late.
Howe may face loads of competitors for the Ivorian worldwide, as Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United are all linked with a transfer.
Regardless of his excessive launch clause, a bid of between €50-60m (£42m – £50m) may properly be accepted by the Portuguese aspect, both now or through the summer time switch window.
Howe might have to dump a participant or two so as to make a transfer for Diomande occur, however given how spectacular he has been for Sporting, it may very well be cash properly spent certainly.
Ousmane Diomande’s season in numbers for Sporting CP
The 21-year-old defender has made a total of 25 appearances for his membership this season, lacking only one league recreation within the course of.
Within the prime flight this season, Diomande holds a 94% pass success rate, whereas he has additionally averaged 1.1 tackles, 1.2 interceptions and wins 64% of his complete duels contested per recreation, showcasing his defensive talents and great passing talent.
Diomande additionally loses possession simply 4.7 instances per recreation for the membership domestically, which speaks to his means to retain the ball for his aspect beneath strain.
Including this form of high quality to the Newcastle crew would undoubtedly bolster their possibilities of securing a prime 4 end, little doubt about that.
Nonetheless to hit his peak, Diomande is already displaying the traits of a world-class centre-back, and he may shine within the Premier League for the Magpies.
Not solely that, however his attributes are pretty just like an Arsenal defender who has arguably been one of many best centre-backs within the English prime flight over the last few seasons – William Saliba.
Ousmane Diomande could be Howe’s personal Saliba
The Frenchman has been a rock for Arsenal through the years. This time period within the Premier League, he has won 61% of his total ground duels together with dropping possession simply 5.1 instances on common.
Analyst Ben Mattinson lauded Diomande last year after he was linked with a transfer to Arsenal and Chelsea, saying: “As large of a no brainer as you may get. There’s different CB’s on the market I like however like many I really like Diomande.
“The factor I like about Diomande is in some ways he’s a hybrid between Gabriel and Saliba. In case you permit him be taught from them he may grow to be a monster very quickly.”
In response to FBref, Saliba is the third-most comparable participant to the Ivorian within the Champions League this season, proving that the pair are related when it comes to attributes and enjoying type.
Certainly, the pair have additionally registered similar statistics throughout a variety of metrics in Europe’s premier membership competitors this season, together with move completion share (95% vs 93%), clearances (13 vs 20), touches within the defensive third (145 vs 181), share of aerial duels received (75% vs 81.8%) and carries (239 vs 216).
These statistics clearly present that each gamers play the sport in the identical method. Diomande is already displaying qualities which may see him rise to the higher echelons of the sport.
A transfer to Newcastle would give him a platform to showcase these abilities within the Premier League and may very well be one of many remaining elements of the jigsaw for Howe as he seeks a return to Europe for subsequent time period.
A lot will rely upon how a lot the supervisor has to spend this month, however these are the form of transfers the membership must make so as to progress to the subsequent stage.
The following couple of weeks may very well be fascinating certainly.
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What a signing he may very well be for the Magpies.
