Newcastle United have been pursuing a deal to sign Nottingham Forest winger Anthony Elanga, as they look to add more depth to prepare for the Champions League.
Eddie Howe’s side secured a spot in the Champions League for next season, and will want to ensure that they have both the quality and depth to do something similar to how Aston Vila performed in last season’s competition.
With that in mind, the Magpies had been looking at Nottingham Forest winger Anthony Elanga to play alongside Antony Gordon. Elanga had a superb season last year, and plays with Alexander Isak in the Sweden national team. Last year, the Forest winger made 43 appearances in all competitions, scoring six goals and providing 12 assists.
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However, reported by the Athletic, Newcastle’s £45m bid for Elanga was rejected by Forest, and it is now unclear what the Magpies are going to do. They could either come back with an improved bid, risking losing more money, or find an alternative target. It should be the latter…
Newcastle should target Man City star instead
Instead of going after Elanga, who could cost them significantly more than £50m, Newcastle should instead consider a move for Manchester City winger Jack Grealish, who will leave the club this summer.
ChronicleLive has reported that there are links between Grealish and Newcastle, and that the St James’ Park outfit are monitoring the England international’s situation at Man City. It is not understood that they are posied to make a bid yet.
City have reportedly set a price tag of £40m on Grealish, which is already £5m less than the bid that Newcastle saw rejected for Elanga. Plus, they would land a winger with more Premier League and Champions League experience, and a player that has more than one elite season under his belt (which is what Elanga has).
Grealish has been touted with moves to a couple of other Premier League clubs (Everton and Tottenham), as well as Napoli in Italy. However, Newcastle should make a move to sign him now, to avoid losing out on a player, who at his best, is one of the best wingers in the Premier League.
Click here to see Newcastle United’s current first team squad heading into the start of next season.