Newcastle United are exploring a January transfer for Barcelona defender Clement Lenglet, according to Catalan newspaper AS, causing some Magpies fans to react on social media.
The Toon want to hit the mid-season market with a small investment following the Saudi-led takeover at St James’ Park. United’s new leadership believe they have to act to some extent in mid-season and have begun to explore possible targets.
Newcastle would prefer to wait until the summer before investing larger amounts of their new resources on big name additions. They are also assessing candidates to replace Steve Bruce at the helm, but have started drawing up potential transfer plans.
Lenglet is one option Newcastle are considering and have contacted Barcelona to discuss the likelihood of the Frenchman being available. The Toon like his profile a lot, as they feel he would immediately improve their left-sided centre-back options.
Barcelona’s challenging finances also raises the probability of the Camp Nou hierarchy entertaining offers for the 26-year-old. Lenglet has fallen out of favour in Catalunya of late, with Ronald Koeman only awarding 95-minutes so far this season.
Lenglet also made his only start through four appearances across all competitions at home to Getafe in August. Additionally, he only played five-minutes over Barcelona’s last five La Liga fixtures and been overlooked entirely in the Champions League.
Newcastle may need to convince Lenglet of the transfer, however, as he rejected Roma to stay at Barcelona this summer. Sport reported in July Jose Mourinho’s Serie A side made the Blaugrana an offer for their €36m (£30.5m) defender.
The Spanish publication also claimed Rafa Benitez wanted the £101,000-per-week defender at Everton to replace Yerry Mina. But he remained at the Camp Nou, having featured 48 times under Koeman last season.
Newcastle fans react to Lenglet transfer rumours
Lenglet may regret snubbing chances to leave Barcelona this summer, but some Newcastle fans on social media hope their side’s reported interest does not lead to a January transfer.
That’s because they question how much of an upgrade the 14-cap international would truly be on those already on Tyneside. United have four natural senior centre-backs in Jamaal Lascelles, Fabian Schar, Ciaran Clark and Federico Fernandez. Paul Dummett and Isaac Hayden can also feature in central defence, where Bruce has occasionally used Emil Krafth.
Only Dummett and Clark of those options favour their left-foot like Lenglet, however. A few Newcastle supporters would also consider Lenglet to be an upgrade on those at St James’.
So, here are some of the messages Newcastle fans shared in response to reports their new owners are considering signing Lenglet from Barcelona in the January transfer window…
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