Premier League strugglers Newcastle United have added £8 million PSV Eindhoven ace Ibrahim Sangare to their extensive list of January transfer targets, according to The Mail.
It is two years now since Steve Bruce confirmed that Newcastle had missed out on a club-record, £40 million-plus deal to bring Lille ace Boubakary Soumare to St James’ Park.
The fact that the Tyneside giants still haven’t secured the services of a box-to-box midfielder in the Soumare mould, some 24 months later, is a rather damning indictment of a club who, until very recently, weren’t exactly renowned for their ambition in the transfer market.
But with Newcastle turning their attention to Sangare, with the wounds still stinging following more FA Cup humiliation at the hands of lower-league opposition, the phrase ‘better late than never’ comes to mind.
Will Newcastle sign Ibrahim Sangare from PSV?
Sangare, after all, is a midfielder in the Soumare mould.
The 24-year-old Ivory Coast international made his name in Toulouse as a belligerent, ball-winning ‘number six’. But, since moving to the Netherlands in the summer of 2020, he’s added a more creative string to his bone-crunching bow, proving that he is as efficient in possession as he is out of it.
With four goals to his name, this is already the most prolific season of Sangare’s career.
According to WhoScored, however, only four players in the Eredivisie average more tackles per game while only three average more interceptions.
Clearly, Sangare has not lost sight of his tough-tackling roots, even if he has blossomed into a more all-round player during a year-and-a-half in Dutch football.
Interesting, Newcastle showed an interest in Sangare in January 2020, walking away from the deal due to his prohibitive £22 million price-tag (Express).
Given their new-found riches, and their precarious situation in the Premier League drop zone, the Magpies may be more inclined to put their hand in their pocket time around.
“Ibrahim Sangare is important in any system,” PSV coach Roger Schmidt recently said of a man who turned down Southampton in favour of a move to Eindhoven.
“He has everything a central midfielder needs. He could already win balls but now he makes better decisions and uses his ability to dribble. Sometimes he is just unstoppable.
|He is better on the ball, makes fewer mistakes and plays forward more often. Last season he could be characterized as a player with quite a few sidewards and backward passes during the game.
“Passing forward is more difficult but you have to show that at the top level. He does that now.”
An approach for Sangare will raise further questions about Sean Longstaff’s future on Tyneside.
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