Newcastle United will be on the wrong side of a transfer domino effect if we fail to sign Dean Huijsen this summer and the Spaniard moves elsewhere.
Bournemouth have a £50m release clause in the defender’s contract and Newcastle are set to compete with Real Madrid and Liverpool to secure the services of the highly sought after 19-year-old this summer.
This was reported by The Athletic’s David Ornstein last night, revealing that we’d held discussions with Huijsen’s camp over a potential deal.
It seems clear that Newcastle will use a chunk of their budget on securing a centre-back this summer, but the domino effect of missing out on Huijsen would likely see us miss out on another of our main targets, it appears.
Toon facing tough task with centre-back
According to The Telegraph, Bournemouth are ‘extremely unlikely’ to sell Newcastle target Illia Zabarnyi if centre-back partner Dean Huijsen is sold this summer.
Ukrainian Zabarnyi has been linked with a move to Tyneside for a matter of months now, with the i’s Mark Douglas, The Telegraph’s Luke Edwards and The Athletic previously confirming our interest.
However, with it seeming highly likely Huijsen will depart as European giants queue up to activate his £50m release clause, it seems our hopes of signing either Bournemouth centre-back may already be fading.
Real Madrid and Liverpool have been heavily linked with Huijsen, who is thought to be a ‘dream’ target of ours, while teammate Justin Kluivert recently admitted that the 19-year-old won’t be with the Cherries next season.
As a result, Bournemouth feel it would be ‘too much’ to sell both Zabarnyi and Huijsen in the same window, meaning Newcastle may be forced to look elsewhere.
Could Mitchell look overseas?
Marc Guehi is another domestic target that’s been regularly linked along with Huijsen and Zabarnyi. However, you wonder if that ship has already sailed on a move for the Crystal Palace defender.
England international Guehi was pursued for a large part of the previous summer window, though Palace stood firm to reject bids upwards of £60m for their captain. The 24-year-old still hasn’t signed a contract and seems likely to leave this summer, but whether we will meet Palace’s valuation remains to be seen.
It begs the question of if Paul Mitchell will sign from further afield. Our sporting director is well connected on the continent and talked up the need to ‘widen the net’ in our search for top talent when speaking after a frustrating 2024 summer.
An injection of youth will be needed with several first team players in their 30s, and it wouldn’t come as a surprise to see the French, German and Belgian markets that Mitchell has experience in be exploited to find value for money gems.
