Felix Nmecha has completed his £25 million move to Borussia Dortmund but Premier League giants Newcastle United only ever saw him as a ‘back-up’ option behind Sandro Tonali.
Top-flight clubs, take note. This is how to play the market.
Newcastle United’s cloak-and-dagger pursuit of Sandro Tonali had the required effect too, the Italy international completing his £55 million move arrival from AC Milan on Monday. This was a deal impressive not just because Tonali was one of the key players at a bonafide European A-lister, but because it came almost out of nowhere.
In an era when transfer rumours turn into sagas almost in the blink of an eye, Newcastle agreed terms with Tonali only 48 hours after reports of their interest first emerged back in June.
And, according to The Athletic, Newcastle were more than content to see their interest in both Felix Nmecha and Nicolo Barella emerge as something of a ‘smokescreen’
This is not to say Nmecha and Barella were not active targets. Both were on Eddie Howe’s radar.
But while the media busied themselves with Barella, Newcastle were able to turn their attention to Tonali and snatch the former Brescia starlet before anyone knew it was happening, thus avoiding the sort of bidding power that could have seen the Magpies miss out.
Newcastle sign Sandro Tonali as Felix Nmecha moves to Dortmund
Tonali, while expensive, was still available for around £25 million less than Inter wanted for Barella. Nmecha, meanwhile, was not so much a leading target as one of Howe’s ‘B-list’ options. A player Newcastle may have turned to if Tonali – a boyhood Milan fan – had opted to stay loyal to his beloved Rossoneri.
Nmecha enjoyed a superb breakthrough campaign at Wolfsburg in 2022/23, scoring or assisting a goal every three Bundesliga games while earning a first cap for the German national team.
The one-time Manchester City prospect will now be expected to help Dortmund move on from the dearly departed Jude Bellingham instead, putting pen to paper on a five-year deal just hours after Tonali was posing for photos in black and white.
“Borussia Dortmund is a wonderful club that I have followed since my childhood,” says Nmecha, who joins the Bundesliga runners-up for £25 million.
“I’m delighted that I am a part of it now. And that I can help the team achieve its objectives in the Bundesliga, the DFB Pokal and the Champions League. I hope the fans will give me the chance to get to know me.”
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