The Merseyside-born star is leaving Newcastle United but the deal is a lucrative one for both the player and the Magpies
Anthony Gordon is joining Barcelona
Anthony Gordon is joining Spanish giants Barcelona
View Image
Anthony Gordon will sign a five-year contract before a grand unveiling at Barcelona this weekend.
It ends a three-year spell on Tyneside that produced 152 appearances, 39 goals and 28 assists as he established himself as a Premier League star and won all of his 17 caps with England as a Toon player.
The deal is worth an initial £69.3m for Newcastle, with another £8.6m to be added on if certain achievements are accomplished with both club's agreeing to a list of conditions.
These will include titles won and whether Gordon plays in 60% of games for Barca per season, while there is also a sell-on clause inserted, something Newcastle failed miserably to do with the sale of Elliot Anderson.
*Get Chronicle Premium now for just £1*HERE– exclusive news and features, our NUFC and Academy notebooks, John Gibson's columns plus an ad-lite experience****
As far as personal terms are concerned, Gordon will pretty much double his wages compared to what he is picking up at Newcastle and the speed of the deal was thought to go through quicker because Gordon's demands were lower than Manchester United's Marcus Rashford who has just spent the season on loan at the Nou Camp.
For Newcastle, the deal represents a significant profit, with 15% of that being paid to Everton. Gordon cost United £45million in 2023 and had bags of potential but was far from the finished article with many feeling he was a little raw for such a big money buy.
But he leaves as a star, considered one of the key players in Europe this season, after goals galore in the Champions League and 17 in total for Newcastle.
It became obvious that Gordon was on his way in recent weeks after he disappeared from Eddie Howe's starting XI.
The first real murmurs of him leaving the club came the day after the Champions League exit, when Chronicle Live was contacted by a third party following the defeat against Barcelona that Gordon was highly likely to leave.
We were urged to start getting exit pieces ready to go for the end of the season but to box clever with the information because there was no certainty Newcastle would get the their asking price.
Bayern Munich had an excellent chance to sign him and were almost given a clear run until they failed to advance beyond their own valuation for the player.
A bid was on the table but it fell short of what Newcastle were looking for and was lower than the eventual bid that won it from Barca.
On Sunday, it was obvious that Gordon was on his way as he held a long on-pitch chat with Toon coach Graeme Jones. He'd already told his team-mates he was going long before that, according to some insiders.
But he does not leave on bad terms, and there is genuine warmth around the player's exit. Newcastle must sell to buy, and for the second time in three summers, Gordon was deemed as a sellable asset.
He did not get a move to Liverpool in 2024 when Newcastle were under the cosh with PSR, but this time he was effectively made available for a sale by United chiefs.
Once the golden figure shone through from sunny Catalonia, the deal was conducted swiftly by sporting director Ross Wilson as Bayern missed out and Barca got their man.