Newcastle United transfers: Patrick Zabi was linked with a move to Newcastle on deadline day.
Newcastle United pushed to sign 19-year-old midfielder Patrick Zabi from Stade de Reims on transfer deadline day - but the move didn’t materialise.
Zabi had been looked at by Newcastle as a potential future signing. But when interest from elsewhere became evident, The Magpies tried to accelerate plans to get a deal agreed.
But their attempts proved unsuccessful, with the player opting to join Ligue 1 side Paris FC instead.
That’s according to various reports emerging from France, including L’Equipe, who have claimed Zabi will join Paris this summer for a fee of €25million (£21.5million).
Who is Patrick Zabi?
Zabi was born in the Ivory Coast and started playing youth football in his home country before being snapped up by Reims academy in 2025.
A year on and he is an important player at the Ligue 2 club valued at £21.5million.
Zabi has enjoyed a breakout season with Stade Reims, having played 21 times in all competitions this season. Those appearances include 18 in Ligue 2 as Reims seek an immediate return to France’s top-tier after being relegated last season.
At 6ft 3in, Zabi was identified as a player who possesses the physical traits Newcastle are looking for but will ultimately miss out on as he makes the step up to Ligue 1 next season rather than the Premier League.
He’s not the first teenager from Reims Newcastle have been unable to strike a deal with. Back in 2022, The Magpies twice tried to sign Hugo Ekitike from the French club only to be snubbed on both occasions.
Four years and another transfer snub later, Ekitike scored a brace for Liverpool in a 4-1 win over Newcastle in the Premier League.
United will be hoping that missing out on Zabi doesn’t come back to haunt them in a similar fashion.
Eddie Howe on NUFC transfer business - or lack of it
Agreeing a deal for a promising young talent would not have improved Newcastle’s current situation as the player was always likely to remain at Reims at least until the end of the season. But it would have been a small positive at the end of an otherwise barren winter transfer window for Newcastle.
Explaining the lack of activity, Howe said: “Financially it wasn't possible. As I said right at the start of the window, there may have been players that we were looking at that were for the future, younger players that we could develop.
“But ultimately, nothing happened. I didn't think there was going to be a player coming in that was going to affect the first team.
“We were left with no other option really. I think we have to. Every decision we make has a long-term implication.
“So there's no guarantees that even signing someone with the funds that we had available would help us short-term anyway. So it is what it is.
“We've been used to sort of working in these conditions now for a while. I think we've only been active in one transfer window out of the last four or five. So I think we're under financial restrictions.
“We have to be really, really smart. And we've decided to wait until the summer.”
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