Newcastle now working to sign £60m PL star

The start of Newcastle United’s pre-season fixture list is fast approaching.

Eddie Howe’s team will be back in action on 19 July, taking on Celtic at Parkhead, and 10,000 Georgies will be joining them in Glasgow for the game, which should make for quite the atmosphere.

Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe reacts

In the meantime, the Magpies have been busy in the transfer market, looking to bolster their squad ahead of a return to the Champions League, so will it be a busy week of unveilings on Tyneside?

The latest on Newcastle’s transfer activity

As has been widely reported, Anthony Elanga is on his way to the North East to complete a £55m move from Nottingham Forest.

The winger scored six goals and registered 11 assists in the Premier League last season, now set to become the Magpies’ second-most expensive signing of all time, behind only his Swedish international teammate Alexander Isak.

Newcastle are far from done there though, because, according to a report by GIVEMESPORT, they are ‘working to sign’ and ‘remain hopeful’ of landing Crystal Palace defender Marc Guéhi.

The report adds that Howe wants to ‘prioritise the addition of a centre-back’, while Chris Waugh of the Athletic documents that those inside the club believe the England international ‘would be an ideal addition’, noting their long-standing interest, having unsuccessfully bid for Guéhi both last summer and in January.

Well, speaking on the Athletic FC podcast, Crystal Palace correspondent Matt Woosnam believes the club captain could leave Selhurst Park this summer, mainly due to the fact he has just one year remaining on his contract, valued at around £60m.

Palace’s summer plans are somewhat on hold at the moment, as they wait to find out whether or not they’re allowed to compete in the Europa League; a decision is belatedly expected this week.

Meantime, Arsenal are attempting to sign Eberechi Eze for around £67.5m which, should he depart, would increase the Eagles’ determination to keep hold of their other star player Guéhi.

Nevertheless, with Liverpool also seeking to sign the centre-back, it appears very possible that he could be on the move, so will the 24 year old end up on Tyneside?

Why Guehi would be a better signing than Elanga for Newcastle

Guéhi’s performances have earned widespread praise, with then-England manager Gareth Southgate describing his displays at Euro 2024 as “exceptional”, starting six of the seven matches last summer, including the final at Olympiastadion in Berlin.

Meantime, Nathan Jackson of Total Football Analysis notes that the 24-year-old stands out for all defensive metrics, while Sam Tabuteau of Breaking the Lines praises his ‘resilience’ and ‘composure’, asserting that he is impressive both in and out of possession.

This would be such a transformational addition for Howe, given that he had very few options at centre-back last season, largely due to Sven Botman’s injury issues, with Dan Burn alongside Fabian Schär by far the most-used partnership.

So, let’s see how Guéhi compares to Newcastle’s current central defenders.

Guéhi vs Newcastle centre-backs (PL 2024/25)
Stats (per 90)	Guéhi	Schär	Burn	Botman
Appearances	34	34	37	8
Minutes	3,060	2,938	3,330	414
Pass accuracy	84%	85%	89%	89%
Tackles	1.8	1.2	1.1	2.7
Aerial duel success %	54%	44%	66%	61%
Ground duel success %	63%	48%	50%	71%
Interceptions	0.9	1.4	0.7	1.1
All statistics courtesy of Squawka

As the table outlines, when compared to Schär and Burn in particular, Guéhi’s statistics are very impressive.

The fact Botman made just eight appearances skews the data somewhat, boosting his per-90 statistics, while it will come as a surprise to no one that Burn comes out on top in terms of aerial duels.

Nevertheless, as well as being a top-class player, Guéhi would be transformational for Newcastle because centre-back is such an obvious area of need.

At the other end of the park, Elanga too will be a shrewd addition, but Howe’s team have scored plenty of goals without him.

Jacob Murphy continues to exceed all expectations, enjoying a career-best campaign in which he scored nine goals and supplied 14 assists in all competitions. Meanwhile, Anthony Gordon has been deployed on the right wing on occasion too and is a fine player himself, now a regular part of the national team.

So, while Elanga’s arrival is certainly worth getting excited about if you’re a passionate member of the Toon Army, getting Guéhi over the line might be the key bit of business.