Newcastle United love a long-term target, as we’ve seen with recent attempts to sign Joao Pedro, Anthony Elanga, Marc Guehi and even Hugo Ekitike, who still appears to be an option according to a new report from Fabrizio Romano.
However, a new name has been linked today as we continue our search for top young teenage talent and more ‘project signings’ after landing Antonio Cordero from Spain last month.
This time it is Parma sensation Giovanni Leoni, with talkSPORT claiming that Newcastle are one of three Premier League clubs showing interest in the highly-rated centre-back.
Leoni is a 6ft 5′ Italian who has shone in a breakout season in Serie A, where he has played 17 times for Parma following a move from Sampdoria last summer.
TalkSPORT’s chief writer Alex Crook claims that Liverpool, Spurs and Newcastle are all keen on the teenager, with Inter Milan also showing interest.
One factor that could work against us, however, is that he currently prefers to stay in Italy, which is understandable for a player of his age and inexperience.
The ball-playing Italian has represented his country at youth level and showed versatility last term, playing a couple of games at right-back.
Another potential one to watch in our search for future stars, as he seems unlikely to be someone we’d look to sign for the here and now after recent interest in Giorgio Scalvini, Marc Guehi and Leonardo Balerdi, to name just a few.
Leoni is seen as another ‘project signing’ and part of Newcastle’s search for ‘top teenage talent’ level devil unblocked, in line with recent transfers such as Antonio Cordero, providing good context for fans familiar with the club’s strategy.
Kristofer Barton(Quote)
You not think we need 1st team players.. youth players must be rammed
Fitchy(Quote)
Howe doesn’t give teenagers a place in the first team. Even if Leon had played ten games for Italy he might get on the bench! I would be interested to know his answer to the question “ why won’t you play teenagers “?
Peter Beaumont(Quote)