6 Big Deals Newcastle United Are Currently Working On

Could it really be all change at St. James' Park?

John Walton/PA Wire/Press Association ImagesJohn Walton/PA Wire/Press Association ImagesAre Newcastle really looking to boost their squad numbers as much as has been widely reported recently? The intelligent bet would be positive, since the club will go into the season with a problematically small squad, without a fit senior striker, but fans will be cynical and wary of past experience that has seen media frenzy make way to little in the way of permanent first-team deals in the past year. But things might just be about to change, if reports are to be believed. One player who definitely won't be heading to St. James' Park again this summer is Luuk De Jong, brother of new signing Siem De Jong, who of course spent a miserable second half of last season on loan with the Magpies, failing to find the net. He's on his way to PSV, not unexpectedly, having completed a medical and agreed personal terms on a £4.3m deal that sees former club Gladbach take a near £8m bath on him - not particularly surprisingly considering his form in Germany and in the Premier League this year. So who are the deals that Newcastle are said to be working on currently? Aside from the hundreds of players who have been linked, or who the club have apparently "expressed an interest in" (usually media talk for "is French" or "might cost about £6m" and is alright on Football Manager) - the latest of whom being Monaco striker Emmanuel Riviere - it looks like the transfer team at St. James' Park are working hard on making sure they add more much-needed talent after the acquisitions of Ayoze Perez, Jack Colback and Siem De Jong. If the current, heat-gathering reports are to be believed, Newcastle may line up with an entirely new attack when the season kicks off in August - which is entirely needed after last season's embarrassing, goal-shy second half, and they might well have more new men than De Jong pulling strings in midfield...
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