It will be an interesting game at St James’ Park tonight, seeing Newcastle United finally return to home turf to take on a dangerous Serie A side in Atalanta.
It’ll be a tough test and great to see fans back in St James’ Park for the first time since that brilliant 2-0 win over Arsenal back in May, however there’ll be one or two subplots worth keeping an eye on.
One of those is Atalanta’s Duvan Zapata, the powerful Colombian who has been on the club’s radar for some time now.
After being heavily linked with a move to St James’ Park in January, reports in Italy have suggested that we are considering the striker once again now the Italians have shown a willingness to sell at a cut-price fee around the £15-£20m mark.
He’s believed to be rated highly by head of recruitment Steve Nickson, so tonight’s game may be somewhat of an audition for Zapata and his chance to impress Eddie Howe – who may be reluctant, at present, to sign another forward in their thirties.
Elsewhere, The Chronicle revealed last month that we’d been offered the chance to sign Merih Demiral this summer – a teammate of Zapata’s and another player expected to feature in the 7.45pm kick off.
We turned down the chance to sign the Turkish international – opting for Sven Botman instead – so he’s another who may arrive with a point to prove after completing a €20m permanent move to Atalanta.
