It remains to be seen if we’ll ‘win the race’ for all three, but there’s a trio of players who appear to be closing in on potential moves to Tyneside.
Those three deals involve Arsenal’s Rob Holding on loan, Ryan Fraser on a free and a move for PAOK left-back Dimitris Giannoulis.
A loan deal for Holding is being tipped to go through this week, while The Telegraph reckon personal terms are all agreed for Fraser and the club are simply waiting for him to sign – albeit anxiously after being made to wait by the Scot.
With The Athletic revealing that the Greek international could be ours for just £5m and a new bid anticipated, it seems all of the above could be ours for just a couple of million quid – leaving a big chunk of Steve Bruce’s budget left to sign a much needed proven striker or two?
From the outside looking in, that appears to be the plan, with Chris Waugh recently revealing that he’s after AT LEAST one striker (Wilson?), a winger (Fraser?), a left-back (Giannoulis?) and a centre-back (Holding?).
That said, it’s clear we really are trying to save money in every direction possible, with the offer on the table for Callum Wilson appearing to be a part-exchange involving Matt Ritchie plus cash.
If Holding, Fraser and Giannoulis do sign, we could be heading into our hunt for a striker with FIVE players signed for a total of £5m – yet we’d have made some decent additions.
Gillespie is a back-up option, some will be uninspired by Holding and Hendrick and many prefer a return for Willems over a talented but untested Giannoulis, however all those plus Ryan Fraser for £5m would be very shrewd business.
Hardly what we were dreaming of a few months ago when Coutinho and Koulibaly were linked with sensational moves to St James’ Park under a Saudi regime, but it’d be a smart way to use of ‘£30-£35m’ budget if we signed all of the above then used the remaining cash to sign a proven striker or two.
It’s also worth noting that IF all of the above did sign (a huge ‘if’ when a certain Lee Charnley is overseeing so many deals at once!), we’d also have another domestic loan slot available to us, making a move for the likes of Liverpool’s Rhian Brewster a possibility later in the window?
No breakthrough yet, but with reports in Greece tipping us to make an improved bid for Giannoulis, Holding’s loan seeming close, Fraser agreed in principle providing he puts pen to paper and a deal being worked on for Wilson, it finally feels like we’re pulling our finger out.
Fingers crossed we can move quickly and get these deals wrapped up to avoid a late scramble in early October when the season’s already a few weeks old!
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Midfielder – Midfielder – Midfielder!!!!!
Time to get rid of Bruce – he’s obsessed with average midfielder and not getting a quality striker in FIRST
This guy is a numpty
I’m not paying to watch the same rubbish as what we all saw last season – with players holding their arms up as Bruce brings on terrible player to replace the little quality
If Bruce was ANY sort of manager NO player would dye their hair the color of the opposition (!!!???) Joelington with his Red locks against Liverbirds = BRUCE has to go ASAP
KK(Quote)
need to sell atsu we need his locker. 😎
super mac(Quote)
Still don’t understand why no William a player who deserves to be given another chance
Alastair(Quote)
Feels like the recent gossip about Ibe on a free and swapping Ritchie to get Wilson may be linked? I.e. we get Fraser as a starter, bring in Ibe as a free transfer back up (timing of stories about Murphy having a good pre-season seem well timed too, so maybe this is a live choice), thus allowing Ritchie to go to Bournemouth.
This way, we reduce the Wilson fee to, say, £20mn and maybe have enough left for Marega too (£15mn?), especially if Lejeune or Schar might be sold at some point, as appears likely given Bruce is bringing in Holding and seems to prefer Lascelles, Fernandez and Clark.
Whilst I really like Ritchie and he’s been great for us, I think the above would make a huge amount of sense. If all fit, being able to pick from Wilson, Marega, Gayle up front, Saint Maximin, Joelinton, Fraser, Ibe, and Murphy on the wings, option of Almiron on wing or at 10, plus two or three of Shelvey, Hayden, Hendrick, and both Longstaffs gives us plenty of options. Could switch between 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2 etc, more easily.
If we also picked up Brewster or Gallagher on loan, that would be icing on the cake. If Bruce is aiming to and manages to pull off the above, he would deserve alot of credit.
I’d love to see Willems back, but I thought he’d be out injured until January, so perhaps the idea is to go back for him then? I feel we need two at left back anyway, as Dummet doesn’t convince me unless he is on the left of a back three.
Matt(Quote)
He hasnt got a clue get rid of him
Gary(Quote)