Newcastle United are keen to add a new creative midfielder to their ranks before the end of the transfer window.
James Maddison has been strongly linked, but that deal now looks dead in the water, while there have been constant links to Lucas Paqueta over the past eight months.
Indeed, Paqueta set tongues wagging on Tyneside when he was pictured in a Newcastle shirt with his old Lyon teammate Bruno Guimaraes months ago, and since then, speculation hasn’t stopped.
Signing Paqueta would be logical. After all, he’s a fantastic player who already has a good friend at the club.
However, in our view, Newcastle should be looking at another of Bruno’s ex-teammates rather than Paqueta. Indeed, the Magpies should be in the race for Houssem Aouar.
The French midfielder is reportedly closing in on a move to Nottingham Forest for just £15m, and that’s a fee that Newcastle could easily fork out for a player of this quality.
Described as ‘incredible’ by Pep Guardiola in the past, Aouar is a wonderfully gifted footballer. He’s played Champions League football and he even has a France cap to his name.
There’s a reason the likes of Arsenal and Tottenham have been tracking this young man for a long time, but now, he could be off to Forest.
With all due respect to the East Midlanders, if Aouar is open to a move to the City Ground, it may not be that difficult for Newcastle to convince him to come to St James’ Park. After all, Newcastle can offer more money than Forest and they’re much more settled in the Premier League.
Much like Paqueta, Aouar has a pre-existing relationship with Guimaraes from their time together at Lyon, and reuniting that partnership could be a truly inspired move by the Magpies.
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