Newcastle reach agreement with £30m “monster”

Newcastle United have been locked in purgatory this summer, with the feel-good factor of last term melting away with the hopes of signing so many top targets.

Last season’s Carabao Cup champions have added Anthony Elanga to their ranks for a £55m fee, solving one of Eddie Howe’s biggest problems, but the list of failed efforts for new first-team players is long, and Alexander Isak is now a wantaway striker too.

Though Newcastle are struggling to identify and lure in a new number nine, The Athletic’s David Ornstein has made it clear that “there’s a very good chance” Isak leaves the club this month.

Chelsea’s Nicolas Jackson is the latest man to be linked with a move to the Newcastle centre-forward seat, but that’s not the only area of concern as Howe prepares for the looming campaign.

Newcastle lining up new targets

The only thing for it is to get back up from the wayside. Manchester United have won the race for Benjamin Sesko, the RB Leipzig striker favouring the Red Devils and that deal is progressing to the closing stages.

With Isak still anticipated to be leaving St. James’ Park, Newcastle have turned to other targets, but they also need to sign a defender this summer, with Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi at the top of Howe’s shopping list once again.

The Chronicle’s Lee Ryder has revealed that claims of an official approach are wide of the mark, but that the Toon’s interest is genuine as they push for a new centre-back.

With Liverpool also interested in signing the £40m-rated defender, Newcastle will be wary of falling flat in yet another Premier League transfer tussle.

And that’s why an alternative option has been earmarked.

Newcastle eyeing Guehi alternative

Well, according to Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg, Newcastle have reached a verbal agreement with Malick Thiaw of AC Milan, though wrestling him away from the Serie A side will prove a tough test indeed.

Thiaw is one of Italian football’s most talented defenders, and the Rossoneri know it. Sky Germany have also made it known that the German, 23, has already been at the centre of a rejected €30m (£26m) bid from the Magpies.

Previous reports suggest that Milan are holding out for a deal in the region of £30m.

Why Malick Thiaw would be perfect for Newcastle

Over the past few seasons, Sven Botman has gone from being one of the best centre-backs in the Premier League to a luckless player whose fitness woes have restricted his playing time.

Heading back into the Champions League, defensive depth is essential, and Thiaw would be perfect on that front. The 23-year-old has completed 85 appearances since leaving boyhood club Schalke two years ago, winning the Supercoppa Italiana last term.

Given the ostensible figures involved, Thiaw might actually prove to be a better signing for Newcastle than Sesko would be. He’s certainly not the finished product, but then neither is the 22-year-old Sesko, whose signature comes attached to a jaw-dropping £74m fee despite only scoring 13 goals across 33 Bundesliga matches last season.

Though it is important that Newcastle sign a striker, is there any tangible evidence that Sesko would prove an auspicious signing for a Tyneside outfit in need of instant results, especially if Isak leaves?

One factor to note is that Thiaw has suffered his share of injury problems over the past few years, though not to the detriment of his progress.

Considered to have the capacity to be a “monster in the air” by journalist Martino Puccio, the German has the sinewy physicality to succeed as a high-class Premier League defender.

Indeed, he won 64% of his aerial battles in Serie A last season, emphasising that point. Guehi, curiously, won only 54% of his aerial duels in the previous Premier League edition.

Moreover, he ranked among the top 6% of centre-halves across Europe’s top five leagues last season for pass completion and the top 14% for progressive passes per 90, as per FBref, with his crisp and enterprising passing game drawing Liverpool’s Ibrahima Konate as his most statistically comparable player.

Talking of Liverpool: AC Milan played out a pre-season friendly against Arne Slot’s Reds toward the end of July, and Thiaw produced a stunning performance, winning all six of his duels and making five tackles, as per Sofascore.

Now we know that this current iteration of the defender – who Milan so desperately want to keep – has made considerable progress to establish himself as one of his outfit’s most talented and proven players against the highest calibre of opponent that English football has to offer.

What of Sesko? Man United previously spent £72m on signing a similarly young and talented striker in Rasmus Hojlund, after all.

All this is not to say that Newcastle don’t need a centre-forward. Newcastle absolutely need a centre-forward. But they need the right striker, and splurging £74m on Sesko would come laced with all the perils.

Shrewdly spending around £30m on Thiaw, however, to complete Howe’s line ahead of a multi-front campaign? Now that’s good business, and the Newcastle that we’ve come to know over the past several years.