Leandro Trossard plans to leave Brighton and Hove Albion this summer with Premier League rivals Newcastle United eyeing the Belgian as a potential Allan Saint-Maximin replacement, as reported by The Mail.
In some ways, Brighton are something of a model club as far as Newcastle are concerned, regardless of those Saudi Arabian riches.
The Seagulls, after all, continue to prove that you don’t need to break the bank in order to float along happily in the choppy waters of the Premier League.
Graham Potter’s side play some of the prettiest football in the division, punching above their weight while helping young players like Tariq Lamptey, Ben White, Yves Bissouma and the aforementioned Trossard realise their potential.
And Newcastle reportedly see themselves as aficionados of up-and-coming talent – like Brighton – rather than the North East’s answer to Paris Saint-Germain.
You can forget about the ‘Gallowgate Galacticos’.
Those high-profile pursuits of Hugo Ekitike and Sven Botman are proof of that. As is the £33 million signing of Bruno Guimaraes.
Meanwhile, Nottingham Forest’s Brennan Johnson and Bayer Leverkusen’s Moussa Diaby, both of whom have been identified by Newcastle as potentially thrilling additions to Eddie Howe’s squad, are just 20 and 22 years of age respectively.
Leandro Trossard to Newcastle?
Trossard, at 27, is far older than Johnson and Diaby. But he would arrive with a proven track record in the Premier League. Dan Ashworth, the man Newcastle plan to hire as their new director of football, also knows the Belgium international well from his time at the Amex.
Interestingly the Magpies have already signed one Brighton player this year; Dan Burn.
Trossard has just over one year left on his contract. He scored his fifth league goal of the season in Brighton’s superb 2-1 win at Arsenal. But it was his performance against Newcastle – a 3-0 Brighton win in March 2021 – that caught the eye of Tyneside’s favourite son.
“An outstanding display by the Belgian,” Alan Shearer wrote in his Premier League Team of the Week. “Marked by some incisive passes and a wonderful opening goal that set the tone for victory.”
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