The Athletic’s Chris Waugh has identified Eddie Howe’s shopping priorities as we look to strengthen in January.
Waugh identifies a number 6 as a top priority for Eddie Howe, especially in the wake of Jonjo Shelvey’s latest injury blow. The thinking is to bring in a defense-minded midfielder to allow Bruno Guimaraes to push forward as his link-up play with the front three, especially Miguel Almiron has been the key to the Toon’s success this season.
This does pour cold water on the James Maddison links somewhat with attacking midfielders pushed down the pecking order of importance, but it has been widely reported that Maddison would likely prove too costly for a January switch anyway and Newcastle will revisit that transfer in the summer.
So, with attention turned to a more holding midfielder role that pushes up the likelihood of a move for Youri Tielemans from Leicester City. We’ve also been looking at Brighton’s Moises Caicedo, plus European options such as Nice’s Khephren Thuram, Borussia Monchengladbach’s Kouadio Kone and Ajax’s Edson Alvarez, but Howe ideally wants Premier League-ready players who he knows can make an immediate impact.
A midfield consisting of Youri Tielemans and Bruno Guimaraes would certainly help us to keep in that Champions League race with so many options to play with when it comes to partnering those two with Sean Longstaff, Joe Willock and Joelinton all more than capable of supporting that midfield it would give Eddie Howe plenty of options to tweak the lineup to suit different types of opposition.
Who would be your preferred choice of the players linked?