With just under three weeks to go until the January transfer window opens across Europe, most clubs will already be positioning themselves to acquire those players which are available.
Though most business is done during the summer window, a number of players are coming to the end of their contracts and, as such, if clubs aren’t able to get a fee for them in January, they will leave for nothing at the end of the season.
For that reason alone, more moves could get over the line before the end of next month, and it will be interesting to see how many Newcastle United will be involved in.
Eddie Howe will be flush with cash thanks to the new ownership opening their wallets for the Magpies boss.
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What that does mean of course is that they are sitting targets for any agents and clubs who know that, for all intents and purposes, money is no object when it comes to discussing transfer fees and salaries.
One player that appears almost certain to move on is Juventus midfielder, Arthur Melo.
The Brazilian was touted as the new Xavi just a few years ago but his unprofessionalism, not to mention Barcelona’s dire situation, was a reason why the Catalan club sold him to Juventus.
MARCA reported back in 2019 how unhappy Barca were with Melo that he’d been on another night out, and it appears he hasn’t learned his lesson.
Juve FC say he was left out of the squad for this weekend’s fixture against Venezia because he turned up late for training, and that has seen the player’s agent make a veiled threat that his client will soon be on the move, per Fabrizio Romano.
Arthur Melo’s agent Pastorello: “Keeping a player of this level on the bench is a shame. For January we can’t exclude anything: there’s interest from La Liga clubs, but also from Premier League and Serie A”, he told @tuttosport. ?? #Juve
Arthur’s expected to leave the club soon.
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) December 11, 2021
La Repubblica say that Newcastle want Melo, but if Howe is trying to bring in a more professional set up at St. James’ Park, they need to steer well clear.