There’s the small matter of a Premier League clash with Leeds United to deal with today, and then tomorrow the transfer window flies open and silly season begins.
Newcastle have been linked with so many players in the run-up to January it has been hard to keep up with them, and even harder to filter the believable from the fiction, but two names that just won’t go away are Leicester City’s James Maddison and Youri Tielemans.
The Northern Echo have boldly claimed that Newcastle will make formal enquiries about both players once the window opens as the belief that at least one of the duo is Tyneside-bound.
Seeing Tielemans dropped to the bench last night as Leicester fell to a second consecutive defeat, this time at the hands of Liverpool – well, really at the hands of their own Coloccini-look-alike, Wout Faes – was all the proof that some fans needed that Tielemans was on his way to Newcastle this week.
Meanwhile, the fact that Maddison hasn’t appeared for the Foxes since returning from World Cup duty with England, where he was seen always hanging around with the three Newcastle lads, has suggested that the deal has already been done. There was even an incident on social media that got Geordie eyes widening – in the aftermath of the win at Leicester, Bruno Guimaraes was pictured in the tunnel with his Player of the Match award alongside a photo of James Maddison, with one Newcastle fan commenting something along the lines of “James Maddison to Newcastle confirmed” which was then liked by Maddison himself – Maddison quickly undid it, but the internet is forever and it was seen by enough people to get chins wagging.
Of course, it’s all just speculation and fans’ wishful thinking, but there’s no smoke without fire and I genuinely think that these deals are there to be done. The Tielemans one is slightly easier as his contract is up in the summer so Leicester will want to cash in while they can. Maddison will be trickier as Leicester are in a stronger negotiating position, but if Newcastle really want him, and it seems like they do, they can make the deal happen. It also seems like Maddison wants it to happen, which should grease the wheels.