Newcastle appear to be muscling in on a rival’s bid for one of the brightest young prospects on the transfer market.
A short while ago, Brighton seemed to be within touching distance of a deal for one of Europe’s brightest and fastest-rising young talents: AIK winger Zadok Yohanna. All of a sudden, however, the Seagulls have some competition – with Newcastle United now trying to hijack their bid.
Eddie Howe & Fabian Hürzelerplaceholder image
Eddie Howe & Fabian Hürzeler | Getty Images
According to Swedish newspaper Expressen, Newcastle have made an offer worth €24m (£20.7m) plus add-ons, which is believed to be higher than Brighton had offered for a player who seemed set for a move to the Amex Stadium. Newcastle’s attempt to muscle in may not be the last of it, either, with Chelsea also now linked with the 18-year-old winger. So where will Yohanna end up – and just how good is he?
Can Newcastle hijack Brighton’s transfer bid for Zadok Yohanna?
The teenager winger, who is rapidly building a reputation as one of the most exciting young prospects in the game just 18 senior matches into his career, has been the subject of interest from clubs in England, Germany and France for months now – but over the past few days, it looked as though Brighton had a deal all but sewn up.
A verbal agreement had reportedly been reached over personal terms and everything seemed to be set fair for the transfer to go through, with other interested parties apparently content to sit back and watch as the Seagull swooped in. Now Newcastle have changed the dynamic.
German journalist Florian Plettenberg claims that Newcastle’s offer is now the highest on the table and it’s unclear as to whether Brighton will match it, or whether AIK will hold out on accepting their offer unless they do.
Complicating matters further is the fact that Plettenberg further suggests that Chelsea – never a side to be shy about signing a young wide forward – are also in the picture, although it isn’t clear whether they’ve made a formal offer or not as yet.
Expressen also claim that French side Rennes are involved, while German sides such as Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig were heavily linked with Yohanna before the start of the Swedish season, which started in March. Whether any of those teams attempt to muscle in as well remains to be seen, but the Nigerian teenager’s performances over the last two months have only served to enhance his reputation and make the bidding even fiercer.
Whoever ends up getting their hands on Yohanna, he now seems certain to become the most expensive player in the history of the Allsvenskan, and the chances that he’s plying his trade in the Premier League soon seem to be high. Brighton seem to have a verbal agreement in place and that probably gives them an edge, but there could yet be plenty of twists and turns in the tale.
Why are Brighton, Newcastle & Chelsea all so interested in Zadok Yohanna?
Yohanna only joined AIK 11 months ago, moving to Sweden from the Ikon Allah academy in his home country. His rise since arriving in Scandinavia, however, has been rather meteoric.
He had already caught the eye of several scouts across a handful of appearances at the back end of the 2025 Swedish season, but his reputation has grown precipitously since he started the new league campaign with a match-winning performance against Halmstad on the opening day – repeatedly taking the opposing defence to pieces, he hit the woodwork twice before scoring a fine late winner from a tight angle after bullying his way past two opposing players inside the box.
Prior to that he had already scored three goals in two games in the Swedish Cup, which began before the league year got underway in April, and now has five goals in 11 matches with some glittering performances under his belt already.
A left-footed winger who cuts inside from the right, Yohanna has exceptional close control and a rapid turn of acceleration which combine to make him a hugely threatening ball carrier who has the confidence to take multiple defenders on at once – and quite often beats them.
Yohanna is already averaging four attempted dribbles per match – a very high mark, even for a winger – and is winning a majority of them, all while his final product is improving rapidly, both in terms of his finishing and his ability to play a final ball. In his half-dozen appearances in 2025, he didn’t register a goal or assist. Now, in 2026, he already has five goals and has provided two more.
He also appears to have the work ethic to back up the flashier side of his game, too – he’s a grafter in AIK’s high press and forces an impressively large number of high turnovers while showing plenty of willingness to track back into his own half to recover possession as well.
Given that he only turns 19 at the end of the month, it’s to be expected that there are still rough edges to sand off and while his decision making appears to be improving rapidly, he can still be guilty of trying to do too much – but the level of talent he has displayed and the speed at which he is developing suggest an exceptionally bright future. He may not be an immediate starter for sides like Brighton or Newcastle, but he doesn’t look likely to be a player who gets buried in the Under-21s for several seasons, either.
One way or another, his stay in Sweden looks set to be brief – the question now is which club he decides to join, and who makes the best offer to his current club. We’ll likely get the answer very soon.
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