Newcastle United are reportedly weighing up a potential swap deal involving Miguel Almiron and Arnaut Danjuma.
The Sunday Mirror (via the Express) have reported that the Paraguay international could be used as makeweight in a deal to bring the Villarreal star to St. James’ Park.
Danjuma is enjoying a terrific campaign over in La Liga.
So far, he has scored 13 goals and laid on four assists in 27 appearances.
Such numbers are in stark contrast to that of Almiron, who has not scored or assisted yet in 2021/22.
The 28-year-old has struggled for the most part this term, and he hasn’t really been able to improve since Howe came in.
The new manager has often overlooked the South American in favour of the likes of Ryan Fraser, Allan Saint-Maximin and Jacob Murphy.
Almiron will have a couple of years left on his contract this summer. So his value should still be relatively high heading into the next window.
It remains to be seen if Almiron fancies a switch to Villarreal and, of course, if Danjuma is keen to come to Newcastle.
He has worked with Howe and Jason Tindall before at Bournemouth, which could prove to be significant.
Newcastle assistant boss Tindall is a big fan of Danjuma. He said after a win over Blackburn in 2020 (via Lancashire Telegraph): “Danjuma’s a great talent. He’s got so much quality and I think that was evident again.
“Arnie is a great lad, great character. I absolutely love him to bits and from the Benfica game, to West Ham, to (Blackburn) he’s produced magic in every game he’s played so far.”
Newcastle swapping Almiron for Danjuma would be great business
Presumably, Newcastle would need to offer Almiron-plus-cash if Villarreal are to consider any deal.
Right now, his value is much higher than that of the Newcastle ace, who has struggled for form. The Express say Newcastle value their man at around £15 million.
Danjuma supposedly has a release clause of around £63 million.
It remains to be seen if Villarreal will refer potential suitors to that clause. If they do, it will make a deal tricky to pull off.
But they might just be intrigued by the idea of bringing in Almiron and be willing to negotiate a lower fee.
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