Having missed out on Dean Huijsen and there still being uncertainty over any pursuit of Marc Guehi, Newcastle United’s search for a new right-sided centre back continues.
If the club and Eddie Howe are insistent on signing players with prior Premier League experience, our current range of options could be rather limited.
But according to a new report from abroad, a rather interesting choice has emerged who has previous close links to Sven Botman.
According to reports in Italy, Newcastle United are taking a look at Juventus defender Tiago Djalo.
This comes via Turin-based outlet TuttoJuve, who report that Newcastle and Crystal Palace are both interested in the 25-year-old, who Sven Botman once partnered at Lille prior to the former’s arrival on Tyneside.
A versatile option who can play in both the heart of defence and at right back, the Portuguese international has just completed a season long loan at Porto.
After early positive signs at Porto, in which he scored in both his cup and Europa League debuts, Djalo only managed 17 appearances across all competitions over the 2024/25 season and is now back at Juve.
In some respects, Djalo certainly ticks a number of boxes in terms of what we want in our defenders: he’s only 25, has European experience and is versatile.
However, similar to the Joan Garcia saga, is this all just another case of European media using our club’s name to drum up interest in certain players?
Juventus are in need of selling key players this summer to meet Igor Tudor’s requests for transfers, but the relatively affordable Djalo would perhaps be near the bottom of the ladder in terms of outgoings.
And having not played much at all for the Old Lady, we would be wise to consider looking elsewhere for a true elite centr-back in the making, not a player who hasn’t set the world alight in Italy.
Compared to ongoing targets like the aforementioned Guehi and Bournemouth’s Illia Zabarnyi, Djalo would be an underwhelming arrival not quite at the level required to be that long-term upgrade on Fabian Schar.
Tiago Djalo: “I dreamt of wearing this jersey” - Juventus