United scouts building list of summer targets
BRAZILIAN superstar Neymar will not be moving to St James’ Park despite speculation on the continent linking the Paris St Germain star with a switch to Newcastle.
The 30-year-old, along with teammate Lionel Messi, was booed by his the French club’s fans last weekend in their win over Bordeaux and his agents are looking at options for a summer deal.
The Saudi-backed Magpies have been linked with an audacious move for the world’s most expensive player but wages of around 500,000 Euros per week and PSG likely to command around £200million mean United will not swoop in.
There is money to spend at St James’ Park and the board are highly ambitious but sources at Newcastle are taking such speculation with a pinch of salt.
However, this is still expected to be a busy summer at St James’ Park, with a host of departures and arrivals expected.
Clinching Premier League survival is the main thing Eddie Howe is focused on at the moment, but Newcastle’s recruitment team are assessing a number of targets that will help the club establish themselves in the top 10 next term.
Signings of a similar profile to £35million midfielder Bruno Guimaraes, a Brazil international himself, are what the new owners want at the club.
Bruno did not mess about when asked where he thought Newcastle could go back in January when saying that the Magpies could be a “big power in world football”.
One Ligue 1 star that Newcastle are believed to have their eye on is Nantes midfielder Ludovic Blas.
The 24-year-old would be a classy addition to the Toon squad and could offer head coach Howe exactly what he wants – more goals and creativity from midfield.
It is believed a fee of £16.7million would be enough to land the former Guingamp man, who can play in a number of positions including as a forward or a right winger.
Blas, who is also the subject of interest from West Ham, has netted eight times and provided two assists from central midfield this season.
He has scored an impressive 30 goals for the French club since joining them in the summer of 2019.
Blas is represented by Base, the same organisation who also look after Kieran Trippier and Chris Wood and who already work very closely with head of recruitment Steve Nickson so the star is one to watch this summer.
Meanwhile, United’s youngsters will tomorrow look to take a big step towards qualifying for the Premier League 2 Division Two play-offs.
Newcastle’s Under-23s face a tricky away game at Stoke’s Bet365 Stadium but victory would push them closer to a place in the play-offs.
It has been three years since Newcastle managed such a feat when they lost narrowly to Southampton in the final on the South Coast 2-1.
United then face a home game against West Brom at St James’ Park on March 28 for another crucial game.
New coach Elliott Dickman has performed well after arriving last year on Tyneside from Sunderland and promotion to the top flight of the Premier League’s reserve team divisions is on the wish-list of the new owners after years in the basement.
There has been another development at the club’s academy recently.
Former Newcastle Tony Caig has been appointed as the club’s new head of goalkeeping at Little Benton.
Caig hooks up again with ex-colleague Steve Harper after spending time alongside the academy manager during Sir Bobby Robson’s stint as boss.
Caig will look after the club’s U23 keepers on a daily basis but also look after the club’s overall strategy for goalies from under-nine up to the second string.