Newcastle United boss, Eddie Howe, has set his sights on signing up to five players for the team to build upon their Champions League qualification for the first time since the 2002/03 season. Newcastle secured their top-four place after a goalless draw with Leicester City.
The club is looking forward to planning their summer recruitment plan and Howe wants a right-sided centre back, left-back, two midfielders, and a versatile attacker who can play in any position across the front-line. According to The Telegraph, an early bid for James Maddison is also expected.
Newcastle is looking at a potential record-breaking transfer window since the Saudi-backed consortium took over in 2021. Although the management still needs to finalize its targets and spending budget, Howe is keen for careful shopping. As the team is now playing at a higher level, it will be more challenging to identify players to enhance the team’s performance.
Howe stated, “It won’t be huge numbers – I don’t think it can be. We don’t have the ability to spend the money that people will think we have, so we’re going to have to be smart. It will be a small group of players, but hopefully ones that can make the difference.”
Newcastle aims to sign Arsenal left-back Kieran Tierney but faces competition from Aston Villa. However, they are not currently pursuing Paris Saint-Germain superstar Neymar despite recent rumors.
Director of football Dan Ashworth is eager to sign younger players with potential, but the priority is on improving the current squad. Some players of interest include Ajax’s Mohammed Kudus and RB Leipzig’s Dominik Szoboszlai. The latter may be costly given his excellent performance this season, with 14 goal involvements in 30 Bundesliga outings at 22.