Brentford are closing in on a £13.5m deal to land Celtic’s Kristoffer Ajer. The 23-year-old was Steve Bruce’s preferred center-back option. Newcastle were hoping they could get the Norwegian on board early for around half that fee.
Bruce is keen on adding a young center-back to the first team. Last season, he made an attempt but fell short in loan bids for Arsenal’s Rob Holding and Schalke’s Ozan Kabak. With a transfer budget of just £10m, it’s gearing up to be a struggle this time around as well.
The top priority is getting Joe Willock back on loan. The 21-year-old will fill one of Newcastle’s domestic loan slots. Mike Ashley doesn’t seem bothered to even attempt a permanent deal for the midfielder.
So that leaves Bruce with just one domestic loan slot available should we get Willock back to St. James’ Park with plenty of holes left to fill. Bruce reportedly also wants to add another midfielder with Leicester City’s Hamza Choudhury and Chelsea’s Conor Gallagher considered serious options.
If Bruce does add a second midfielder on loan in addition to Willock, his budget will most likely go towards a defender. There are a handful available within Bruce’s budget. Tottenham’s Cameron Carter-Vickers is an obvious choice at around £5m.
Both Kabak and Valencia’s Mouctar Diakhaby, due to their club’s dire financial shape, have seen their reported price tags drop below £10m. Though the best option may be Manchester United’s Axel Tuanzebe, though he is probably only a realistic target as a loan signing.
It could be that Bruce just sticks with what he’s got at the back. There’s plenty to choose from with seven center-backs on the books including Kelland Watts. In fact, Bruce potentially has to trim what he already has before this campaign kicks off.
Newcastle have yet to make a bid for any first-team signings. The Academy has added three players in Remi Savage, Charlie Wigget, and Cameron Ferguson. The only reported bid has come for Wolves defender Dion Sanderson, who was seen as one for the future.
The 21-year-old spent last season on loan with Sunderland, who had a £1m bid rejected early in the window. Newcastle followed that up with a very low bid that was also rejected. Wolves have been trying to tie Sanderson down long-term with his contract running out in 2022.
The Mail is reporting that Sanderson has now agreed on a new long-term deal at Molineux and will head to Birmingham City on loan for next season.
Birmingham manager and former Magpie Lee Bowyer has all but confirmed the loan signing telling BBC Radio the following:
“We are hoping that that will get done soon.
“Something has been agreed but he’s just coming back from injury so we are making sure everything is right on the medical side.
“It’s another good addition to the squad.”
Newcastle have missed out on yet another of this summer’s reported targets. We’ll head into Sunday’s split-squad friendlies at York City and Harrogate Town with no new faces on board.
However, we could get a glimpse of some of the new youngsters as Bruce said the following about playing some of the U23s in tomorrow’s friendlies:
“We’ve got two at the weekend. We want to give everybody in the squad at least 60-70 minutes. We’ll break the squad up and we’ll get the U23s down as well.
“We’ll do it as an exercise of what we want in terms of minutes into the players’ legs.”
The friendly at York City will be streamed for free on NUFC TV. It kicks off at 2PM.
? Sunday's pre-season friendly at York City will now be streamed for free live on NUFC TV and our official YouTube channel.
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— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) July 16, 2021
26 comments so far
Mund
Jul 17, 2021 at 11:40 AM
Comment #1Barry Silkman on Zinedine Zidane:
“I offered him to Newcastle at the beginning of the 1996 season for £1.2m. They watched him and said that he wasn’t good enough to play in the First Division.”
WLtoon
Jul 17, 2021 at 11:44 AM
Comment #2Ashley shouting his mouth off a couple of years ago stating if there is a TO nobody will know about it until it is done, Wham, there you go , new owners.
This new attempt has become a farce, once again being played out in public, in fact this is even worse than the last one.
Only two parties have kept their mouths shut through all of this , one is the PL, they are not obliged to say anything, and the other is Shahid Fatima, who , in my opinion , is our only hope of winning this arbo, and then i think it is a small hope.
The rest have been totally unprofessional culminating is Staveley`s futile attempt to sway the public opinion live in front of a nation.
I so wish she had of kept her mouth shut, if she is that confident about arbo going her way then why say anything at all?
Aces-of-Eights
Jul 17, 2021 at 11:48 AM
Comment #3Got a question for everyone on reference to toon22 who keeps saying 2 more weeks.
Who has watched Total Recall the Arnold Schwarzenegger version? And when the big lady in yellow at airport malfunctions what does she keep repeating?
Mund
Jul 17, 2021 at 11:53 AM
Comment #4Lee Ryder
@lee_ryder
AFC Bournemouth hoping to resurrect Freddie Woodman loan deal as Asmir Begovic is lined up by Everton to return to Premier League #nufc
captainmarvel
Jul 17, 2021 at 11:55 AM
Comment #5WL not even attempting to be nasty..
Do not take this the wrong way.
Opinions mean diddly squat.. The only things that matter are the court cases themselves and the professional people in them who are paid to get results..
Have faith..
Charlie in the Gallowgate
Jul 17, 2021 at 11:56 AM
Comment #6Sign anyone – got no chance – club is in a state of limbo until we are taken over or the deal is finally put to bed.
Got my season tickets renewed but looks like going to be a long hard slog.
WLtoon
Jul 17, 2021 at 11:57 AM
Comment #7I`m not concerned one bit about Ajer going to Brentford, he isn`t proven in the PL at all, we have plenty of proven CBs at the club already and have Dummett and Hayden as decent cover so no need to panic.
Lets see how good Ajer is coming up against wor Callum and the rest next season, he could be in for a rude awakening.
simon376
Jul 17, 2021 at 12:01 PM
Comment #8Got to agree with Charlie about Thrunton, love it there. Also try Ingram Valley, up same way, drive into it as far as you can, then get out the car and walk up to the spout, another lovely place
WLtoon
Jul 17, 2021 at 12:03 PM
Comment #9captainmarvel,
No offence taken at all mate, you are right , it is about opinions.
The only thing we differ on is you have faith, i don`t.
I hope you are right of course, i guess you are a similar age to me and we have learned not to be fooled by media hype and BS, and in this case , i remain sceptical.
Lets see how this DRAMA unfolds
Mund
Jul 17, 2021 at 12:04 PM
Comment #10Mike Ashley is hedging his bets in the transfer market until arbitration has been resolved. The Newcastle owner is holding back on sanctioning a transfer spend until the takeover is resolved this summer – with all roads pointing to arbitration in July #NUFC
Been saying this for a while now.
The mighty wyn
Jul 17, 2021 at 12:06 PM
Comment #11Only my opinion for what it’s worth
I think maybe the epl offered arbitration so that if it gets us winning situation theres no comeback from the big 6 as it has been taken out of the leagues hands
Mund
Jul 17, 2021 at 12:06 PM
Comment #12Mike Ashley
@MoneyMikeAshley
·
7m
Next time anyone organises something can you make sure it doesn’t clash with #TheOpen or the week of
@PeteGravesTV
wife’s birthday in order for it be reported by
@SkySportsNews
. Thanks all.
#nufc #NUFCTakeover #nufcprotest
WLtoon
Jul 17, 2021 at 12:10 PM
Comment #13Lads, i have always said that Northumberland is a beautiful county, i big it up wherever i go.
I think it was voted Best County to visit, or words to that effect only 2 months ago so it`s reputation is out there and is growing.
It`s taken something like the pandemic, no holidays abroad, for people from other parts of the country to realise just how beautiful it is.
onmeedsun
Jul 17, 2021 at 12:23 PM
Comment #14Why didn’t the club accept the offer of arbitration 12 months ago? Just doesn’t make sense now we’re doing it 12 months later. And that won’t help Ashley’s CAT case either.
anxer
Jul 17, 2021 at 12:28 PM
Comment #15Perhaps Ashley naively thought that if he refused the offer of arbitration the PL would cave and let the takeover through?
Once it became apparent that wasn’t going to happen arbitration became the only way forward.
Davas28
Jul 17, 2021 at 12:29 PM
Comment #16Spot the difference:
Premier League Handbook 2019/20
The Hearing
X.24. The chairman shall fix the date, time and place of the arbitration hearing and shall give the parties reasonable notice thereof. A representative of the Board shall be entitled to attend the hearing as an observer.
X.25. At or before the hearing the chairman shall determine the order in which the parties shall present their cases.
X.26. Any witness who gives oral evidence may be questioned by the representative of each party and by each of the arbitrators.
Premier League Handbook 2020/21
Published: 11 September 2020
Updated: 24 March 2021
The Hearing
X.22. The chairman shall fix the date, time and place of the arbitration hearing and shall give the parties reasonable notice thereof. A representative of the Board shall be entitled to attend the hearing as an observer.
X.23. At or before the hearing the chairman shall determine the order in which the parties shall present their cases.
X.24. Any witness who gives oral evidence may be questioned by the representative of each party and by each of the arbitrators.
X.25. The proceedings of an arbitration convened under this Section X shall be confidential and shall be conducted in private.
anxer
Jul 17, 2021 at 12:31 PM
Comment #17Interesting find Davas. I wonder if the clubs have to agree to changes to the handbook.
carltoon
Jul 17, 2021 at 12:37 PM
Comment #18Loved, Ryan Taylor’s response to Amanda saying she’s going to get this deal “Over The Wall “. Taylor’s response was ” if you need any help with that Amanda give me a DM. 😀
Davas28
Jul 17, 2021 at 12:37 PM
Comment #19Anxer
I wondered that. I don’t know if confidentiality is mentioned somewhere else in the old one but I couldn’t see it but didn’t look closely. There also isn’t a list of changes which you often see in official documents to explain the change.
carltoon
Jul 17, 2021 at 12:40 PM
Comment #20Didn’t the Chairman of the Arbitration, help revised the rules, and that’s why we wanted him removed? I may be wrong.
carltoon
Jul 17, 2021 at 12:47 PM
Comment #21It’s seven years, since John Alder, Liam Sweeney died. True dedicated fans, R.I.P.
Ron Knee
Jul 17, 2021 at 12:50 PM
Comment #22Rafa’s magic trick:
https://twitter.com/OFalafel/status/1416013317546590208
Wor B
Jul 17, 2021 at 12:59 PM
Comment #23Ron
Tiny hands with awesome powers!
😆
Wor B
Jul 17, 2021 at 1:01 PM
Comment #24carltoon
Only seems like yesterday, we stood applauding on the 17th minute.
geordietom
Jul 17, 2021 at 2:11 PM
Comment #25:D:
geordietom
Jul 17, 2021 at 2:12 PM
Comment #26🙄