As Newcastle United shop in the bargain aisle to pad their squad they have looked at relegated clubs for potential bargains and they have been impressed with a player from Leeds United.
It’s not the first time that Robin Koch has been mentioned in the same sentence as Newcastle, but now 90mins has claimed that the Magpies have been impressed with Koch’s versatility.
The 26-year-old has been at Leeds for three years and has covered various positions for The Whites but seems to be most comfortable as a centre-back or playing just in front of the defence.
Koch was part of the Premier League’s worst defence last season
A couple of months ago Fabrizio Romano mentioned that Newcastle were looking at Koch but weren’t wholly convinced by him, however it seems like they could revisit the idea this summer and take advantage of Leeds’ relegation.
Koch played in all but two of Leeds’ league games last season as part of the Premier League‘s leakiest defence. Leeds conceded 78 goals, five more than rock-bottom Southampton.
His FBref stats don’t make exciting reading either, although he was in the 91st percentile for aerials won in Europe’s top five leagues which is actually impressive.
Newcastle fans must trust the process and trust in Howe and Ashworth
Personally, I just can’t see the sense in this move at all, but as always, I defer to the judgement of Eddie Howe and Dan Ashworth. If they see something in him they can work with then I’ll back them to make the right call.
Koch can’t be that bad, he does have eight international caps for Germany to his name, so there must be something to his game. Maybe he was just weighed down by a very poor Leeds side last season.
It’s not going to light a fire under the Toon Army if Newcastle do go for Koch, but neither did Dan Burn and look how that turned out.
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