Newcastle United may have to get used to their fair share of transfer frustration over the coming months.
Indeed, Newcastle fans look set to endure another rather quiet time of things on the incomings front in January.
Newcastle are not guaranteed to sign anyone this month, with the lack of PSR wiggle-room so tight that the club may not bring in a replacement for Miguel Almiron, who is expected to return to former club Atlanta United.
With that in mind, it could lead to targets going to other clubs.
Chelsea beat Newcastle to the signing of Tosin Adarabioyo in the summer and it seems they could do something similar again.
Chelsea could hijack Newcastle United interest in Ousmane Diomande
Newcastle have been linked with Ousmane Diomande of Sporting Lisbon.
Reports suggested Newcastle could have signed the defender last summer, albeit the 21-year-old remained in the Portuguese capital.
Now, Caught Offside claim that Chelsea are in fact favourites to land the 21-year-old. Arsenal are also said to be among the frontrunners.
Diomande has been hailed as “very talented” by former manager and current Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim, and is understood to be keen on a move to the Premier League despite rival interest from Bayern Munich.
Newcastle United’s problem exposed against Bournemouth
While the defending at Newcastle has been brilliant in recent weeks, Saturday’s 4-1 loss to Bournemouth exposed some weaknesses.
Antoine Semenyo claimed Bournemouth knew to press Newcastle when they played out from the back.
With that in mind, it surely reminded people at the club that a new defender is needed. Dan Burn, Fabian Schar, Sven Botman and Emil Krafth all have their uses but the fact Newcastle went so big on Marc Guehi last summer surely tells us something about the internal thinking about their defensive options.
Sadly, Diomande may be out of reach now.
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