Newcastle United tried and failed to sign Mitchel Bakker in January 2022, and could now reignite their interest more than a year later.
That is according to 90min in Germany, who report that Newcastle are keen on bringing 22-year-old Bakker and his Bayer Leverkusen teammate Moussa Diaby to St James’ Park.
Diaby has been relentlessly linked with a move to Newcastle ever since last summer when he was one of Eddie Howe’s top targets. However, he proved to be too expensive.
News of Bakker being back on the Magpies’ radar is certainly interesting, with a new left-back on the agenda for this summer. Kieran Tierney appears to be the top target, while Renan Lodi has also been linked.
Now Bakker has re-emerged as an alternative, and he is someone who Newcastle came very close to signing during the first transfer window following the takeover.
Newcastle nearly signed Mitchel Bakker in January 2022
The January 2022 transfer window was a chaotic one for Newcastle. It was the first since PIF bought the club from Mike Ashley, with Amanda Staveley and co scrambling to sign reinforcements ahead of the bid to avoid relegation.
One position of improvement that was identified was left-back, with the club holding talks with Bakker about a move from Leverkusen to Newcastle.
It was reported by the Telegraph in the final week of the window that the Magpies were going to hold talks with the left-back over a contract, having already made a bid to sign him. The Daily Mail had stated that Bakker was interested in a move to England, with Newcastle proposing a deal worth £14.5million.
However, talks appeared to collapse, with Newcastle instead bringing in Matt Targett. He arrived on loan from Aston Villa, then became a permanent Geordie the following summer.
Now the club are looking for an improvement on Targett, and Bakker is on the list of options. If he does arrive and impresses in black and white, questions will be asked as to why they didn’t just get him in the first place last year.