Newcastle United may revisit their interest in former Wolves midfielder Ruben Neves as a potential replacement for Sandro Tonali. The £55 million summer signing, Sandro Tonali, is facing a significant ban from football due to betting-related offenses in Italy during his time at AC Milan. This has put Newcastle’s manager, Eddie Howe, in a challenging position when it comes to selecting the team. After investing such a substantial amount in a player, the desire is to play him, unless you’re Pep Guardiola, who famously acquired Kalvin Phillips from Leeds.
As a result, Eddie Howe is now forced to reconsider his plans for the January transfer window, as he needs to find a solution to the potential void left by Tonali’s impending suspension. In light of this situation, Luke Edwards has reported in The Telegraph that Newcastle is considering approaching Al-Hilal to secure a loan deal for Ruben Neves for the remainder of the season.
Newcastle had expressed interest in Neves during the summer, but the Portuguese midfielder chose to join Al-Hilal, another club owned by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), rather than staying in the Premier League with Newcastle.
It appears that Luke Edwards leveraged their previous interest in Neves and the shared ownership connection to craft this story. Edwards also mentioned longstanding links between Newcastle and Manchester City’s Kalvin Phillips and Manchester United’s Scott McTominay.
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Scott McTominay is another player who has been consistently linked with Newcastle since the summer, but even after scoring two goals in stoppage time for Manchester United recently, he still doesn’t appear to be a favorite among Newcastle supporters.
Regarding the potential move for Ruben Neves, if Newcastle were to pursue a loan deal with Al-Hilal, it could raise some concerns and discussions. Notably, the Newcastle fan base expressed displeasure when the club sold Allan Saint-Maximin to Al Ahli in the summer, even though it was for less than market value. Ironically, this discontent seemed to come from clubs that were willing to accept significant sums of Saudi money for their own players, often exceeding their actual market value. Therefore, attempting to secure a loan for a player who recently moved to Saudi Arabia might not be worth the hassle.