Newcastle United have made their first move for Aston Vila defender Matt Targett after asking their Premier League rivals about his availability.
That’s according to 90MIn, who claim Newcastle have asked Villa whether they can sign Targett this month.
Villa have just secured the signing of Everton left back Lucas Digne, and he was straight into the starting XI against Manchester United.
That means Targett is now second-choice left back under Steven Gerrard after more than two years as first-choice.
This situation may not exactly be to Targett’s liking, and Newcastle are now able to offer something of an escape route.
Newcastle are being with a host of left back options, including Atalanta’s Robin Gosens and Bayer Leverkusen’s Mitchel Bakker.
Gosens is more of a wing back and would be very expensive, whilst Bakker only joined Leverkusen last summer.
Targett at least offers a Premier League-ready option having made almost 150 top-flight appearances with Southampton and Villa.
Targett, 26, has recorded five assists and two goals for Villa, offering something of an attacking threat.
So good last season that he won Villa’s Players’ Player of the Season award, Targett has been branded ‘very underrated’ by Paul Merson.
If Newcastle want to sign Targett permanently, you can imagine this deal won’t come cheap.
Villa forked out £11million to sign Targett from Southampton in 2011 and would surely expect a healthy profit on that outlay.
Steven Gerrard loves competition for places and may feel that he want Targett and Digne to go head-to-head for a role in the Villa side.
For Targett though, going from Players’ Player of the Season to sitting on the bench is a real fall, and he may fancy being first-choice at Newcastle.
This move may depend on Targett really pushing for the move – and whether Gerrard is willing to lose a left back after just bringing one in.
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