As expected, Newcastle have been linked with nearly every player on the planet as the January transfer window approaches.
Instead of listening to all of the rumours, I decided to do some scouting of my own and take a deep dive into the stats for Premier League players this season. Starting with the centre midfielders, let’s take a look at 3 players that might be worth considering.
Moises Caicedo
Newcastle have reportedly been linked with a move for Brighton’s Moises Caicedo, and the stats say Eddie Howe should take a closer look. Ecuador’s World Cup star has had an impressive breakthrough season on the south coast. A very athletic, no-nonsense midfielder, Caicedo is adept at breaking up play and has a total of 19 tackles, 19 interceptions, and 16 blocks to his name this season. These numbers are well above our best-performing midfielder, Bruno Guimaraes. Joe Willock (23) and Sean Longstaff (20) are the only players to better Caicedo’s number of blocks.
It is not just on the defensive side of things that the Brighton man impresses, he is also cool and collected in possession and can pick a pass, with 665 completed passes and an 86.8 success rate again outscoring our current midfielders.
Brighton paid €5 Million to bring the 21-year-old from his homeland, but according to Transfermarkt.co.uk, he now has a market value of €38 Million. Recent reports have suggested that Brighton may be looking for over €70 Million for their young star, so we would likely have to break our transfer record once again to bring him to St James’ Park.
Alexis Mac Allister
While we are down on the south coast, we might as well take a look at Caicedo’s Brighton teammate, Alexis Mac Allister. One of the most well-rounded midfielders in the league right now, the Argentine has also been lighting up the World Cup with his nation in Qatar.
Mac Allister is another accomplished defensive midfielder and has outperformed his clubmate in both tackles and interceptions. It is on the attacking end of the pitch that Mac Allister really stands out. The 24-year-old is in the league’s top 20 for completed passes (724), and the top 25 for success percentage (88%).
His 5 goals from 14 starts have him 2 goals more than Bruno, although 3 of those came from the penalty spot. Another string to Mac Allister’s bow is his free-kick taking expertise, although Kieran Trippier might have something to say about that if he were to join!
Brighton pulled off another South American coup by paying just €8 Million to secure his services, meaning his current market value of €32 Million would give them a massive profit from any sale.
Joao Palhinha
The last of the three midfielders that might be worth looking at is a little bit from left field. Fulham’s defensive midfielder Joao Palhinha has been one of his team’s stand-out performers in an impressive season to date.
At 27, Palhinha is slightly older than what has been the main age range targeted by Eddie Howe. Despite this, Palhinha could be an excellent signing if the Newcastle boss is looking for more defensive options in our midfield three. The Portuguese international tops the league with 38 tackles this season and is in the top 30 for blocks made with 21. He also features in the top 25 for Aerial duels won.
2 goals from 14 games is a fair return for a very defensive midfielder and with a market value of €28 Million, he may be a cheaper option than many of the midfielders that are rumoured to be linked with a move in January.
All stats provided by fbref.com