In terms of seismic transfer windows and incomings, it’s fair to say that both ourselves and Sunderland conducted quite a bit of business this past summer.
We smashed our transfer record on bringing in Nick Woltemade, and completed one of the big coups of the window by signing Malick Thiaw for just £35m. Sunderland, meanwhile, spent in excess of £180m, an absurd figure never before seen from a newly-promoted side.
Moving to January, reports in Italy suggest we could be in the market for the same midfielder, who is thought to prefer a move to Tyneside over Wearside…
Newcastle face fight to sign Guendouzi?
According to Italian outlet Calciomercato, Sunderland are struggling in their bid to sign Lazio midfielder Matteo Guendouzi, who is thought to favour a move to Newcastle or Aston Villa instead.
The former Arsenal talent was linked last week amid our interest in Roma midfielder Manu Kone: a clear indicator that we’re looking for a defensively-minded midfielder in the January window?
It’s claimed Guendouzi wants to play European football and has rebuked Sunderland’s advances so far, with Lazio also hoping for more than the £20m offered by the Black Cats.
Regis Le Bris worked with the 26-year-old French international during their time together at Lorient, but that may count for nothing as the Italian paper claims he would prefer to join Newcastle or Aston Villa.
With two Champions League campaigns in our last three seasons, Newcastle can offer Champions League football over the second half of the 2025/26 campaign, while Aston Villa are in the Europa League under Unai Emery; who Guendouzi worked under at Arsenal.
That said, links to Newcastle and Villa could be agent-driven to push Sunderland to up their bid and offer the player a more lucrative contract? This is always something to consider and it wouldn’t be the first time post-takeover.
Would the move make sense?
When you compare Guendouzi to some of the other names we’ve been linked with in recent weeks, you can definitely start to see some patterns in terms of who are recruitment team are trying to sign.
Boasting prior Premier League experience like Scott McTominay and Conor Gallagher may appeal to Eddie Howe, and we’ve clearly been scouring the Italian market after recent moves for Malick Thiaw and Sandro Tonali.
However, I do question two thing. 1) He’s not that young creative midfielder we’ve been tipped to sign following links to Kees Smit and 2) his attitude and disciplinary record has been questioned over his career.
Ross Wilson has been tipped to sign younger prospects with high ceilings and potential resale value above older, more ‘established’ talent, so I would be surprised if we added a player like Guendouzi to our already stacked pool of midfielders.