Newcastle are looking at USA midfielder Yunus Musah of Valencia

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Newcastle United have reportedly joined the race for USA’s World Cup star Yunus Musah who currently plays for Valencia.

The once-great Valencia are embroiled in a relegation battle in La Liga which is being exacerbated by financial troubles off the pitch and fan protests around the ownership. It all hits a bit too close to home for Newcastle fans having been through this sort of thing before, but now we’re on the other side of it looking to take advantage by swooping for one of their top players.

According to 90mins Newcastle have joined the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool in their pursuit of Musah.

Musah looked fantastic against England in the World Cup

The 20-year-old central midfielder had a brilliant World Cup with the USA. After the draw with England, Musah was hailed as ‘spectacular’ by Sporting News which will have really irked England boss Gareth Southgate who was hoping the Arsenal academy graduate would choose the Three Lions over the USMNT.

Musah was also recently given a place on a list of the hottest prospects in world football by Hundred.

The youngster is going to be spoilt for choice come the summer with clubs from England, Spain and Germany all keeping tabs on his situation. You’d have to imagine that with him having roots in London that a move to the Premier League would look very appealing for Musah.

It will be interesting to see if that means he’d prefer to go back to Arsenal to try to break into their first team after leaving their academy to join Valencia, or if he’ll be looking for new ground to conquer.

Newcastle will have a hard time beating Arsenal to this one

As for how it looks with regards to Newcastle’s prospects of landing the young star. It’s looking increasingly likely that Newcastle will be able to offer Musah Champions League football next season, if not, then definitely some form of European competition, which should keep them in the race with the likes of Arsenal and ahead of Liverpool and Chelsea.

Musah is under contract at Valencia until 2026 but he does have a release clause of £88million, however given the current status of the club it’s believed Valencia would find it hard to reject a substantial offer.

Looking at his stats this season, while he’s not labeled as a defensive midfielder, he also doesn’t have many goal contributions. In 26 La Liga games he’s managed no goals and only two assists, however that it likely more to do with playing in a struggling side than any indicator of his talent.

Yunus Musah has a lot going for him and seems to tick a lot of boxes in terms of being a Newcastle target, however I’d be very surprised if we can beat Arsenal to his signature given the pre-existing connection there.