Report: Newcastle in talks to hire Samuel Fagbemi from Manchester City

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Newcastle United are trying to snatch Samuel Fagbemi from Manchester City.

That’s according to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, who claims the Magpies are in talks with the City scout.

Fagbemi is currently Manchester City’s lead scout, tasked with finding the young players who could blossom into Premier League stars.

That’s what the Newcastle owners want, having arrived at a club with a somewhat underwhelming academy system.

It’s disappointing to see how many, or rather how few, players have came through the Magpies’ academy in recent years.

The last player to truly breakthrough was Sean Longstaff, who has just signed a new deal to stay at SJP. His younger brother Matty almost did, but his career has gone backwards in recent years.

While Newcastle suddenly have a huge pot of money, that doesn’t mean we can just buy readymade stars. We need to build from the bottom and invest in youth. That will help us grow and nurture our own talent, which has been missing in years gone by.

Newcastle want Samuel Fagbemi to be head of youth recruitment

Romano claims that Fagbemi will make a decision on his future in the next few days. The Magpies have approached him about becoming the club’s head of youth recruitment.

That will be an important role in the coming years, and will likely see him work closely with Dan Ashworth. He’s set to be appointed soon, with progress made last week regarding compensation with Brighton.

Ashworth will run the football side of the club and ensure it is all pulling in the same direction. That includes identifying the type of young players the club needs, which is where Fagbemi comes in.

Fagbemi is highly rated

He started his scouting career at Arsenal, but joined Manchester City in 2017. Interestingly, he nearly returned to Arsenal in 2019 around the time of Mikel Arteta’s appointment at the Emirates. However, that deal ended up not happening.

Fagbemi instead remained at Manchester City, where he’s built an impressive reputation.

Romano mentions multiple youngsters Fagbemi signed for City, including Samuel Edozie. The 19-year-old actually started the 21/22 season in Pep Guardiola’s starting XI for the Community Shield final against Leicester.

A move to Newcastle would certainly be a positive appointment for the Magpies. It would be a big get too to nab him from the Premier League champions.