Newcastle United have made an offer to bring Barcelona centre-back Andreas Christensen back to the Premier League, according to reports.
The Magpies are winless in the last four Premier League matches with Eddie Howe’s side dropping to 12th in the Premier League table following a 4-2 loss at Brentford on Saturday.
Newcastle did brilliantly in their first full season under Saudi Arabia ownership as PIF helped fund a fourth-placed finish under Howe.
In another solid season the Geordies finished seventh last term but their momentum following the takeover has massively stunted this season and there are now rumours they could lose some of their best players in Alexander Isak and Bruno Guimaraes.
As former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan put it recently, Newcastle “are caught inside a vacuum, a Bermuda Triangle” because of the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules.
Jordan told the Daily Mail: “While I was an advocate for Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), foolishly believing it was a mechanism to control cost, reduce hyperinflation in wages and transfer fees and make the industry more sustainable, what it is actually is an unsophisticated blunt instrument that does nothing but pull the drawbridge up for the elite and effectively says ‘no, thank you’ to any new real challengers.
“The irony of PSR is that – like it or not, and I have my reservation – what is more sustainable than a nation state sovereign wealth fund of £800billion bankrolling an English football club and also paying hundreds of millions into the sport and the British Exchequer?
“What the current regulations mean for Eddie Howe and Newcastle is that they are caught inside a vacuum, a Bermuda Triangle.”
However, it seems like Newcastle will have money to spend to help boost their defence with reports in Spain claiming that the Magpies are ‘launching an offer’ for Barcelona centre-back Christensen.
The Premier League side have ‘agreed to pay’ €30m (£25m) in total to land the Denmark international with putting ‘a total of 20 million euros fixed and 10 more in variables on the table for Barca to try to recruit Christensen’.
It’s a proposal that ‘seems to convince’ Barcelona to sell the Dane as Newcastle look to reinforce a defence that has conceded 21 times in 15 matches this term.
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There have been plenty of rumours over Howe’s tenure at Newcastle that other high-profile managers could come in to replace him and he insisted that it wasn’t a problem that the Magpies wanted Unai Emery before appointing him as their new manager.
Howe told the Up Front with Simon Jordan podcast: “It doesn’t bother me that Unai Emery turned the Newcastle job down, not in the slightest.
“I was given a phone call that highlighted it was a two-horse race for the job between Unai and myself. Unai’s CV is unbelievable, at that point I knew I’d lost! I got the call to say they were going to go into another direction, and I completely understood their decision. He’s a top-quality manager.
“There was no ill feeling from my end towards Unai or Newcastle. When I got the call the next day and they offered me the job after Unai turned it down, I was absolutely delighted. I realised what a big opportunity this was for me. I had no reservations towards the club about them leaning towards Unai initially, that’s football.
“Of course, as a human being you have those anxieties and fears stepping into a new role. You have to prove yourself all over again, you need to set your intentions early and try to inspire a new group of people to bring the club together. There was no doubt in my mind in taking the opportunity, I realised there would not be another opportunity for me like this and I couldn’t wait to get involved.”