Newcastle United and Sunderland may reportedly become rivals in the transfer market during 2026.
Ahead of this season, the Magpies were expected to be challenging for Champions League qualification and the newly-promoted Black Cats content with Premier League survival.
Instead, Sunderland sit in fourth position in the Premier League table, seven points clear of Newcastle who are down in 14th place and just two points clear of the relegation zone.
In both cases, Eddie Howe and Regis Le Bris are likely to want to conduct business at the midway point of the campaign in an effort to finish as high as possible.
According to Football Insider, the two North-East rivals could soon be battling it out for the same starlet from Ligue 1.
Who is Angers youngster Cherif?
Despite being just 18 years of age, Sidiki Cherif has already racked up 28 appearances for Angers in all competitions.
Although the attacker has netted just the three goals, they have been netted in the 2025-26 Ligue 1 campaign across the last five matches.
Sunderland manager Regis Le Bris looks on ahead of his side's return to the Premier League August 16, 2025
Most notably, Cherif has scored against Monaco, Lorient and Marseille, helping Angers secure five points across that triple-header.
As such, Cherif has announced himself as one of the top young talents in France's top flight and is being backed to eventually move to a bigger club.
The report alleges that he is currently valued in the region of £22m at a time when he has a contract until the end of 2027-28.
Which club would be best fit for Cherif?
Newcastle are in a position where they could benefit from investing in younger players when they only have one player - Lewis Miley - in their first-team squad who is 20 years of age or younger.
Cherif is also capable of playing in a number of positions in the final third. Howe is known to favour players who can play in more than one role.
On the flip side, Cherif would likely have more chance of senior game time at Sunderland if he was to move to the Stadium of Light at this point in his career.
All things considered, he may be better honing his craft in a familiar environment, at least in the short term, rather than moving to the Premier League.
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