Newcastle United would like to sign a centre midfielder this month, and they would love it if it was Amadou Onana.
The Everton midfielder is a long-term target for the Magpies, and it appears that he could now be Newcastle’s first choice in that position following Kalvin Phillips’ imminent move to West Ham.
Onana, who Everton paid £33million for in 2022, would be a better addition in the long-run. He is much younger than Phillips and has stacks of potential.
That is why Newcastle have tracked him for years, and are now looking into possibly loaning him this month before buying him permanently in the summer.
Philip Billing would be a cheaper alternative to Onana, but the Belgium international is the one they really want. However, it sounds like it is going to be an incredibly difficult deal to do.
That is the view of the Telegraph’s Luke Edwards, who has suggested that Newcastle might need to sell someone before they can bring the 22-year-old in.
Newcastle need to sell before they can Amadou Onana from Everton
Luke Edwards has been speaking about Newcastle’s interest in Onana on the Transfer Gossip Daily podcast.
“Amadou Onana has been linked with Arsenal, Manchester United, it was myself who revealed Newcastle’s interest in Onana this month,” he said.
“Now I have always thought it is a hugely complicated deal to do. £60million is a lot of money to cough up in January.
“Now what is interesting about this is that Newcastle haven’t actually managed to sell anyone. There has been a lot of talk about Trippier to Bayern Munich, Wilson to clubs in Italy, Miguel Almiron. But the only player they have managed to get rid of is Javier Manquillo to Celta Vigo and I don’t think they got any money for him, so I don’t think Newcastle’s finances have been boosted enough as yet for that Onana deal to happen.
“I think if Newcastle sell someone before the end of the month I could definitely see that Onana deal happening. I don’t think they will go as high as £60million but then Everton have got to haggle, they paid a lot of money for him, so they would need to make some money off it. I think it’s a very complicated deal.
“Do they need a central midfielder? Yes. Are they working round the clock to try and get that deal to happen? Yes. The last information which came back to me was that is was proving pretty fruitless but I think they will at least have a little dabble at Onana. If they sell somebody it will be a toss up between whether they go for him or Morgan Gibbs-White but both of those players are incredibly hard to prise away.”
Newcastle are going to struggle to get Amadou Onana
If Newcastle need to sell someone to have any chance of signing Onana this month then a deal for the Belgian feels incredibly unlikely.
Plenty of players have been linked with leaving St James’ Park, but it does not look like any of them will. Kieran Trippier’s move to Bayern Munich is off, while Miguel Almiron does not want to leave Newcastle amid interest from Saudi Arabia.
That leaves the Magpies in a tough spot. It is clear that the club need reinforcements right now, particularly in the middle of the park with Joelinton out for the rest of the season.
Onana would be a great signing for Eddie Howe, but it sounds like some major work will have to be done behind the scenes to make this dream a reality.
Selling someone could break the deadlock, but that is proving to be just as difficult as buying someone.
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