Newcastle interested in signing ‘aggressive’ £34m World Cup winner this summer

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Newcastle United are looking to add a new midfielder to their ranks this summer with a World Cup winer now on their list of targets.

The Magpies have suffered a frustrating injury crisis this season which has left them very short of numbers in the middle of the park and Eddie Howe will be keen to avoid a similar situation next year.

According to SportBILD, Newcastle are showing interest in Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Exequiel Palacios who appeared on the bench during Argentina’s victory over France in the 2022 World Cup final.

Newcastle will have to pay at least £34m for star midfielder

Bayer Leverkusen are enjoying a brilliant season under Xabi Alonso and remain the only unbeaten team in Europe’s top leagues after 22 games, and they now have an eight point lead over Bayern Munich.

Palacios has had a huge role to play in that run making 17 appearances in the league with most of them in the staring 11 as well as two in their Europa League campaign.

The Argentinian typically plays in a more defensive role, though he has chipped in with five goal contributions this season, and could be exactly what Newcastle are looking for in a midfielder.

In terms of price, it’s understood that Leverkusen wouldn’t be willing to consider anything lower than £34m and that would be a starting point for negotiations for the ‘aggressive’ player.

Geordies could really use a defensive midfielder

Individually Newcastle have some spectacular players in their midfield with Bruno Guimaraes the particular highlight at the minute, but as a trio they are certainly lacking something.

Sean Longstaff and Lewis Miley have their own unique qualities, but neither are a traditional number six and Howe has encountered this problem when seeing his defence exposed countless times.

A lot of the blame has landed on Dan Burn who has really struggled these past few weeks, but it’s important to understand how improving the midfielder with more defensive nous and physicality would massively help out the left-back.

Newcastle had tried to bring in a defensive midfielder in January with Kalvin Phillips but no move ever materialised due to a lack of funds, but Palacios may be an affordable option in the summer.