Newcastle United’s search for attacking options has reportedly landed them at the door of a familiar name.
Anthony Elanga was heavily-linked with a move to Newcastle United just a year ago, but PSR constraints meant that the Magpies were unable to seal a deal for the winger. Elanga would go on to score six goals and register 12 assists for Nottingham Forest, helping the Trickey Trees to a 7th placed Premier League finish and qualification for the Conference League.
Elanga’s frightening pace was on display when Forest hosted Manchester United, his former employers, back in April when he ran 80 yards with the ball before slotting home in-front of a jubilant City Ground crowd. That type of goal has, of course, got Magpies fans excited about the potential of seeing Elanga grace the St James’ Park turf on a regular basis next season.
However, a move for him will be tough to complete this summer. Forest are under no pressure to sell him the winger with Elanga still having three years left on his current contract at the City Ground. They will also not have to scramble around to sell players to comply with PSR.
‘Agent’ Alexander Isak on the case?
If the Magpies do want to complete a move for the winger, therefore, it’s likely that they will have to pay over £50m for his signature. A fee well in excess of what they were prepared to pay for him last summer.
Elanga, though, is an international teammate of both Emil Krafth and Alexander Isak - could the Magpies use either of these to their advantage this summer? Well, the winger was asked if Isak had been on the phone to him in the hours after news of Newcastle’s interest broke on Friday night.
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Elanga had just completed 90 minutes for Sweden against Hungary, failing to score despite having a couple of chances to grab a goal for his nation, when he was asked by Swedish media if he’d had a call from the Magpies’ number 14: “He must have tried to call me about the match,” Elanga joked, “ [And] that I should have scored.”
Elanga played up-front for his nation after Isak withdrew from international duty through injury. Krafth, meanwhile, wasn’t picked by Jon Dahl Tomasson for this round of games.
Elanga will not feature for his country against Algeria on Tuesday and will leave the squad due to ‘personal reasons’. Tomasson revealed last week that this was always the plan for the former Red Devil and that his departure from international duty is not related to Newcastle’s current transfer interest in his services.
The summer transfer window, which opened on 1 June this year, will temporarily close again on Tuesday before reopening on June 16. Clubs can sign players before Tuesday, but will have to wait six days until it reopens to continue player trading. Newcastle United and their Premier League rivals will have until 7pm on Monday 1 September to get all their transfer business in order and completed.
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