Newcastle transfer news: Toon planning bid for French winger Moussa Diaby

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Newcastle United are reportedly going to make their move to sign Moussa Diaby in the ‘coming days’.

That’s according to L’Equipe, who claim the Bayer Leverkusen winger is now one of the Magpies’ priority targets.

This report is incredibly exciting, as Diaby is one of the biggest talents in Europe today. He’s had an exceptional year in the Bundesliga, helping his side finish third to qualify for next season’s Champions League.

That could hinder Newcastle’s attempts to land the 22-year-old. However, they’ve already proven they can sign players from clubs competing in Europe. It happened with Kieran Trippier and Bruno Guimaraes in January.

Diaby would be a real coup just like Bruno, and another example of the immense pulling power we suddenly have. This would be a blockbuster signing, and the kind of player who could give us so much more in attack.

Diaby outperformed every Newcastle player this season as Toon plan bid

The former PSG flyer has been one of the standout player’s in this year’s Bundesliga. His numbers are exceptional – even more so when you compare him to Newcastle’s attackers.

Diaby ended the campaign with 13 league goals, which is more than any Toon player. Callum Wilson was our top scorer with eight.

He also provided 12 assists, which once again is more than any Toon player. In fact, it’s more than Allan Saint-Maximin (5), Ryan Fraser (3), Jacob Murphy (2) and Miguel Almiron (0) combined. Diaby has more assists on his own than all of Eddie Howe’s wingers.

Obviously he plays in a very attacking Leverkusen team, but he clearly has the end product that Newcastle are craving.

Saint-Maximin is our most creative player, but even he’s been massively outperformed by Diaby in recent years. They both left France in 2019, but the latter has had much more success in Germany than the former has had in England.

Diaby has more than double the amount of league goal contributions over the last three seasons than Saint-Maximin, bagging 51 compared to 25.

That’s not to say ASM isn’t good. He’s one of our most gifted players and a real joy to watch. But Diaby is a level above.

It’s a long shot, but this would be a real gamechanger if Newcastle can get this deal done. A bid is reportedly on the way, so let’s pray it’s a good one.