A new name has been linked with a surprise move to Newcastle United this afternoon, suggesting the club’s search for a new centre-back has moved abroad.
According to The Mail, in a story from Craig Hope and colleague Simon Jones, Newcastle are now working on a deal to sign Marseille’s Leonardo Balerdi.
The reports states that Juventus have been exploring a deal for the 26-year-old centre-back, but Newcastle have sensed an opportunity to pounce with the Serie A giants facing financial issues and a limited budget.
Balerdi has been impressing in Ligue 1 under former Brighton boss Roberto de Zerbi and it’s believed Newcastle are now exploring the possibility of a £35m deal being struck for the Argentine international.
This comes as Liverpool press ahead with a move for Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi, leaving Toon chiefs to explore other options now a deal for Eddie Howe’s long-term target looks increasingly unlikely.
Balerdi captains Marseille and has made 164 appearances for the Ligue 1 giants since arriving from Borussia Dortmund four years ago.
He stands 6ft 1′ and has experience of European football, making 24 appearances across the Champions League and Europa League.
I thought Juventus sorted out their centre back issue in January 🤣
Nick(Quote)
Lol, They might not forgive us for a while, selling Kelly to them was a fantastic bit of business.
Johnny Mac(Quote)
What we need is a young, brilliant, right-footed centre back who is FAST. That is our greatest defensive weakness, witness countless goals on the break over the last two seasons. In fact, although we are clearly building from youth, it is more essential that our next centre half recruit is FAST – even if he isn’t young.
Will Chelsea poach any more of our targets? Why don’t we “do a Chelsea” and bend the PSR rules like they do? they are fantastic at it!
davewallace(Quote)
ps Nobody thinks Balerdi is fast. Do not want him. Not the man we need.
davewallace(Quote)
Guehi is rated “fast-ish”. We want (NEED) better than that.
davewallace(Quote)
Tosun would have been handy!
davewallace(Quote)
I’ll bite your arm off if we get Balerdi. Out of the players we can realistically sign, he has been at the top of my list for a while.
Nic(Quote)
We can’t bend the rules like them sadly. We don’t own any hotels to sell to our parent company, our women’s team is just out of the 3rd tier there’s no way we would get any more than a fraction of the inflated £ they got. That’s before we consider that at the first sign of us trying these stunts the PL would instantly u turn and close the loopholes….
East stand(Quote)
Leonardo missed 49 days with injury last season and in the two seasons prior more than 126 days .. hopefully he will bring a pair of crutches and a sick note with him .. another Craig Dope story .. he was only an Argentinian international in the under 19’s he is now 26 !
Mike(Quote)
Where do you get this misinformation? He’s played for Argentina 8 times. He missed 6 games all last season but some of those were Argentina. He would be a class signing if we can get him. Support for Schaer and can develop into potentially a top defender.
Nic(Quote)
Transfermarket stats .. I stand corrected he has played only one 90 minutes for Argentina against Peru and .. he has been called into the squad when he has not been injured and on the bench 6 times., another 5 times he has played as little as 1 minutes and 3 minutes .,last time in 2024 .. an “Argentinian international “.., he maybe a good player but his injury record is poor .,transfermkt have his value at €20 million
Mike(Quote)