Newcastle
Newcastle United £63m ‘Entanglement’ With Crystal Palace, What To Know
Fresh Newcastle United transfer claim made amid £63m summer spend & Marc Guehi Crystal Palace talks
With less than a week to go before the new Premier League season, Newcastle have made four first-team additions so far this summer. Lloyd Kelly, Odysseas Vlachodimos, John Ruddy and Will Osula have all joined the club while Lewis Hall’s loan move from Chelsea became permanent for £28million.
But with a free transfer, a young striker and two goalkeepers, Newcastle’s summer is still lacking a marquee signing to significantly bolster Howe’s side despite spending £63million on transfers so far.
While Howe claims he is now focusing on the Premier League opener against Southampton on August 17 (3pm kick-off), he is hopeful of some new faces through the door at St James’ Park before the August 30 deadline.
“For me, I’m focusing on the players we have, I’m focusing on Southampton,” said the Newcastle head coach following the 1-0 Sela Cup win over Stade Brestois.
“Difficult to say exactly what’s going to happen. These things aren’t exactly in my hands and I’m not really dealing with them. “Now we have other people in place to take control of those situations, allowing me to focus on coaching the team.
Newcastle are in talks with Crystal Palace regarding the signing of defender Marc Guehi. The Magpies have seen two bids rejected by The Eagles, who value the 24-year-old at £65million.
On new signings, Howe added: “They have to make sense, whether that’s a positional need or something becomes available in the market that we really like.
“Of course, you’re looking to strengthen the group and improve the first team.
“We’re hopeful to be active and to add at least one player to the group. Let’s wait and see.
“It has to be about quality rather than quantity for us because we have got such a good squad, anyway, that if you’re going to add players to it, they have to push the group to new levels – so that’s what we’re looking for, which is very difficult to find. There are not many players that will make us better.”
