Leicester City’s financial situation is one Newcastle should look to exploit as Eddie Howe’s search for a winger continues.
The Magpies tried to sign Moussa Diaby, but he proved to be too expensive. Now Jack Harrison is on the agenda, but Leeds might price us out of a deal.
All the while, the new Premier League season edges ever closer. But while Newcastle look for attacking reinforcements, Leicester fans would take anyone right now.
Leicester need to sell before they buy
Brendan Rodgers’ side are yet to make a single signing this summer. They are the only Premier League club yet to add to their squad.
It’s a situation Toon fans can empathise with. We spent most of last summer without any fresh faces before the previous regime eventually decided to fork out for Joe Willock.
Financial issues are stopping Leicester from investing, and the Telegraph report that they need to sell before they buy. However, their lesser players aren’t attracting much attention.
That means they might have to listen to offers for their bigger names, which brings us to Harvey Barnes.
Barnes to Newcastle, anyone?
As previously mentioned, Newcastle are looking to sign a winger this summer. They want someone who will be an improvement on Miguel Almiron, Ryan Fraser and Jacob Murphy.
Harvey Barnes would certainly be an improvement. In fact, he would be a massive improvement. He’s an ‘unbelievable‘ player in the words of Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp. If he joined Newcastle he would be a guaranteed starter and probably one of the best players at the club.
The 24-year-old predominantly plays on the left wing, which is Allan Saint-Maximin’s position, but the duo would be interchangeable. If anything, that kind of unpredictability would make us even more dangerous.
Barnes is direct in his running, and the type of player Howe would love. We need to add more goals to our game, and he would absolutely bring that. Last season he provided 11 goals and 14 assists in all competitions. That’s the same amount of goal contributions as Diaby got in the Bundesliga for Bayer Leverkusen.
Those kind of numbers are exactly what Newcastle need. And it would be a real statement of intent taking a player from a club we are trying to overtake in the coming years.
The England international would obviously cost big money, so it would depend on how much the Foxes want for him. Would an offer of £40million suffice? That’s not for us to say.
It would be cruel to exploit Leicester’s financial predicament, but they need to sell to buy. Taking Barnes off their hands would give them money to reinvest, and give us the winger we’re craving.
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