In case you were wondering just how much of a silly season this has been since the announcement of our potential takeover here’s a list of the players linked to The Toon since the new broke and where they’ve come from.
It’s probably not a definitive one, but we make it at LEAST 50 players who’ve been linked with a potential move to St James’ Park over the past two months:
- Arnaud Lusamba – Newcastle have reportedly made contact with Nice’s Lusamba over a potential free transfer move to St James’ Park at the end of his contract (Newcastle Chronicle, June 2)
- Jonathan David – Newcastle are in talks with Gent over the signing of forward David this summer, ahead of rivals Tottenham (TodoFichajes, June 1)
- Philippe Coutinho – Newcastle have shown interest in signing Coutinho on a permanent deal. Barcelona will request just over £70m back from their original instalment, giving his agent Kia Joorabchian some room to negotiate over his client’s future (Mundo Deportivo, May 31)
- Edinson Cavani – Newcastle have been linked with a move for the PSG forward among a host of big-name players (Newcastle Chronicle, May 10); Newcastle have been boosted in their attempt to sign the Uruguayan after it emerged Paris Saint-Germain were not expected to offer him a new contract (Daily Express, May 18)
- Gareth Bale – Newcastle’s prospective new owners have earmarked the Real Madrid forward as their priority summer signing (Daily Mail, May 11); Newcastle are prepared to spend £53m to bring the Welshman back to the Premier League (Daily Mail, May 13) Gareth Bale has no interest in a potential move to Newcastle amid reports suggesting the Tyneside club will look to sign him once their £300m takeover is complete. (Daily Star, May 16).
- Kalidou Koulibaly – Liverpool have reportedly tabled a lower offer than Newcastle for the Napoli centre-back (Daily Express, May 18)
- John Stones and Ross Barkley – Benitez will target the Man City defender and Chelsea midfielder as his first signings should he return to Newcastle (Daily Telegraph, May 25)
- Wilfried Zaha – Newcastle have been in touch with Crystal Palace over the signing of Zaha, who would cost around £60m (Sun on Sunday, May 17)
- Facundo Pellistri – Manchester City and Newcastle United are trailing highly-rated young winger (Daily Mail, May 29)
- Xherdan Shaqiri – Liverpool midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri is a major transfer target this summer for Newcastle. (Daily Mail, May 27)
- Gonzalo Higuain – Newcastle and Wolves are ready to offer the former Chelsea striker a second chance in the Premier League. (Sunday Express, May 24)
- Danny Rose – Newcastle are in talks to extend Rose’s loan from Spurs (Sky Sports, June 1); Tottenham are willing to extend the full back’s loan at Newcastle for him to complete the campaign at St James’ Park (Daily Telegraph, May 29)
- Valentino Lazaro – Newcastle are in talks over a £21.25m deal for the Inter Milan star – to kick-start their Saudi revolution (The Sun, May 16); the Inter loanee’s agent has suggested he could remain at Newcastle beyond the end of the season, saying: “We will see what happens later.” (Inter Dipendenza, May 8)
- Arturo Vidal (Mundo Deportivo, April 18)
- Antoine Griezmann (Sport Media, April 17)
- Willian (ESPN, April 21)
- Pedro (The Chronicle, April 30)
- Dries Mertens (Eurosport / ESPN, April 15)
- Donny van de Beek (Le10Sport, April 29)
- Radja Nainggolan (Calciomercato, April 27)
- Nabil Fekir (Footmercato, April 26)
- Aaron Ramsey (TuttoJuve, May 15)
- Odysseas Vlachodimos (A Bola, May 15)
- Adrien Rabiot (Tuttomercarto, May 15)
- Morgan Sanson (Le10 Sport, May 14)
- Odsonne Edourard (Daily Express, May 13)
- Odion Ighalo (Daily Express, May 11)
- Jesse Lingard (Daily Mail, May 2)
- Fabio Borini (Tutto Hellas Verona, April 25)
- Allan (Napoli Arena, April 28)
- Emerson (Sport, April 25)
- Willian Jose (Agent Nick Arcuri, April 17)
- Emmanuel Dennis (Eurosport, April 15)
- Tete (Globo Esporte, April 25)
- Faitout Maouassa (L’Equipe, April 23)
- Luka Jovic (90min, May 3)
- Tanguy Kouassi (Le10 Sport, April 23)
- Ibrahim Sangare (Daily Express, May 3)
- Aissa Mandi (AS, May 3)
- Mohammed Salisu (Eldesmarque, May 4)
- Franck Kessie (Tuttomercato, May 25)
- Carlos Alena (MARCA, May 4)
- Mousa Dembele (Bleacher Report, April 24)
- Bertrand Traore (Daily Mail, May 12)
- Layvin Kurzawa (FC Inter News, May 11)
- Adam Lallana (The Athletic, May 13)
- Thomas Robert (Football Insider, May 8)
- Carney Chukwuemeka (Soccer Link, May 14)
- Eberechi Eze (The Chronicle, May 30)
Significantly a lot of these were in the earlier days of the takeover rumours and there hasn’t been a lot of new ones since. But it all shows how money talks, or at least enough to fill some column inches…
