Fabrizio Romano confirms €61m champion league star deal agreed for Newcastle United target

Fabrizio Romano confirms €61m Man City deal agreed for Newcastle United target
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Newcastle United need to strengthen their midfield this summer. There cannot be any doubt about that. As we saw from the 3-1 defeat at the hands of Everton, this team still needs a lot more in order to be competitive after losing so many top players.

Bruno Guimaraes and Sandro Tonali will certainly fall under that category. The club captain will turn out for Arsenal from next season. The Italian joined their North London rivals, Newcastle United.

On the other hand, Newcastle United’s two signings in midfield have been 18-year-old Sean Steur and 20-year-old Aladji Bamba. They are highly rated for sure. But are they ready to be starters from the get-go?

I have my doubts regarding that. And unfortunately, one of Newcastle United’s targets, who could actually be an immediate starter, looks to be headed elsewhere.
Fabrizio Romano confirms Man City deal that hurts Newcastle United

According to Fabrizio Romano, there’s a verbal agreement in principle between Al Qadsiah and Manchester City at a €61 million transfer fee for Tijjani Reijnders. The deal depends on the player’s decision.

Of course, Reijnders is one of the players to be linked with Newcastle United in recent times. He would potentially add a lot to the Magpies’ midfield department. But now, it is hard to see anything happening.

It would take Reijnders to turn down the move to Al Qadsiah for Newcastle United to still be in with a chance to sign him. And even then, would they be open to the idea of spending €61 million to sign him?

For context, Manchester City had signed him from AC Milan for around £47 million. After an underwhelming season, they look set to make a transfer profit.
Newcastle need to sign some top quality

Now, Newcastle United have clearly been more focused on signing youngsters with long-term potential and transfer value this summer. Under these circumstances, who they be willing to spend €61 million on signing someone who has not met expectations since joining Man City?

It would be an immense risk and not one that I can foresee Newcastle United taking, to be very honest. If the transfer fee was in the region of £35-40 million, perhaps it would have been a more realistic proposition.

And anyway, there is nothing to suggest that Reijnders won’t end up joining Al Qadsiah. So, this is probably going to end up under the ‘what could have been’ transfer stories of the summer.

That being said, Newcastle United do need someone proven to replace players of Guimaraes’ and Tonali’s calibre. That will take some investment. Hopefully, they end up doing that.