Newcastle United are looking to sign a new winger in the summer.
The Magpies, led by English manager Eddie Howe, are rumoured to have several players on their shortlist, including Leicester City’s Harvey Barnes and West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen (Telegraph).
Premier League attackers aren’t the only players being linked with a summer move to St James’ Park though. According to several recent reports, the Geordies are interested in Barcelona’s Raphinha, who is struggling to become Xavi’s first-choice right winger.
Despite only arriving at the Nou Camp from Leeds United last summer, Raphinha, 26, has been forced to play a backup role to Ousmane Dembele, and given Barcelona’s need to comply with Financial Fair Play, the Brazilian is one player who could be sacrificed at the end of this season.
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Although linked to Arsenal and Newcastle, journalist Dean Jones isn’t convinced the Gunners will reignite their interest in the ex-Leeds winger and has suggested that the player may not want a move to England’s northeast.
Interestingly though, Jones claims Raphinha isn’t the only Barcelona attacker Howe has on his shortlist, with Dembele also highly appreciated.
“I think it is more likely they [Arsenal] look for someone a bracket down from Raphinha, given he signed for £55m, and they will look to make more than that on him now,” Jones told GiveMeSport.
“Are there any other landing spots for him in England? Newcastle is a possibility. But I also think the player would see that as quite a step-down, given Barca was his dream move. And a twist to that one is that Newcastle also like his teammate Ousmane Dembele.”
Very few players are lucky enough to put on the famous red and blue stripes of Barcelona so it is obvious both Raphinha and Dembele are top attackers, and with Newcastle now extremely wealthy and looking to move to the next competitive level, it is not surprising to see the club being ambitious in the transfer market.
Whether or not Howe could convince either player to swap red and blue for black and white will depend almost entirely on whether or not the Magpies secure Champions League football next season though.