Newcastle is forced to step up its pursuit of Barcelona’s defensive star as Eddie Howe panics over injuries.
Newcastle United are reportedly prepared to step up their pursuit of a top Barcelona defender in January, as injuries continue to plague the club.
The Magpies are facing an injury crisis, with as many as 12 first-team players currently out, after Howe suffered another blow in Saturday’s 2-0 loss to his old club Bournemouth.
Miguel Almiron is the latest player to be sidelined due to a recurrence of the hamstring injury he suffered last season.
Callum Wilson, Alexander Isak, Sven Botman, Bruno Guimaraes, Dan Burn, Jacob Murphy, Harvey Barnes, and Matt Targett are among the notable absentees.
Defensively, the absence of Botman and Burn has been significant for Howe, and it appears he is looking to make amends in January – even though the former could return this month.
Barcelona’s versatile center-back Andreas Christensen is the player on Newcastle’s radar, having previously played in the Premier League for Chelsea.
According to Sport, Newcastle would have to go to great lengths to persuade Barcelona or manager Xavi to sell.
According to the newspaper, Christensen is one of the Nou Camp stars whose market value is high due to his time in England and the fact that he is a regular with Spain.
Several clubs were said to be interested in the 32-year-old over the summer, including Newcastle, who were looking for a player who could play centrally, as a full-back, or as a wing-back.
The Magpies are also’still very interested’ in the Denmark international, according to Sport.
Barca is determined to keep the Toon as a target.
The main issue for Newcastle is that both Barcelona and the player are completely uninterested in a potential exit, which would necessitate an out-of-market bid for the player from St James’ Park.
Alonso is frequently rotated in alongside other Catalan defenders, but Xavi still sees him as a key player he does not want to lose.
Because he will be out of contract next summer, the defender’s current value is significantly reduced. However, Barcelona has the option to extend his contract for another year.
To that end, Newcastle will almost certainly have to make a ridiculous offer to persuade Barcelona to sell.
