Newcastle double deal delayed as Toon wait for dominoes to fall

Towards the end of last season, we constantly found ourselves needing another team do us a favour to better help us secure Champions League football.

Ultimately, those favours never came, but we had enough talent to make sure we got the job done in the end, though Aston Villa’s defeat at Old Trafford on the final day was certainly welcome.

Off the pitch, it’s a similar story in this summer’s transfer market. We’re seemingly waiting and waiting for other clubs to complete their business, with ours held up because of it.

But positive signs are showing that our business will get done in the end, particularly in regards to two of our most significant pending transfers of the summer…

Anxious wait on Brentford and Bournemouth

It feels like forever since it was first looking likely, but we may soon be able to call Yoane Wissa a Newcastle United player.

We were handed a potential boost today as the forward was told to train away from the main squad, instead doing sessions alongside those on their way out, as The Mail’s Craig Hope reports.

Brentford are open to selling Wissa to us, knowing he’s desperate to join, but they’re waiting to confirm Dango Outtara’s transfer from Bournemouth to be made official.

And the Cherries are in a similar position: they won’t sell to Brentford unless they too are covered in attack, so we will indeed be hoping that their talks with Bayer Leverkusen for Amine Adli progress far enough that the dominoes start to fall and we finally get our man.

Ramsey deal ramping up - but still details to be resolved

According to Sky Sport’s Keith Downie, Newcastle are still optimistic about signing Aston Villa’s Jacob Ramsey, but talks are still continuing between us and Unai Emery’s side over the move.

It was reported earlier by The Telegraph that a £40m package was agreed, with Fabrizio Romano coming a deal was ‘almost done’ last night.

But Downie notes that “there’s still work to do” on the deal, suggesting it’s on track but not quite imminent just yet.

What this work entails isn’t specified, but one would imagine that Villa are in a similar position to Bournemouth and Brentford: they perhaps can’t sanction a key outgoing without making sure they have a suitable replacement all ready to go.

So overall, it’s another day of positive talks and signs, but we’re still playing a waiting game on other clubs if we want to get the bulk of our business done.